Evanescence
by CreativeQuill
Summary: [COMPLETE!] PostHBP, Harry's quest for the horcruxes... but he's not doing it alone! HG RHr RemusTonks BillFleur
1. Chapter 1

_Hello my friends! Well, did you all enjoy the HBP as much as we did? Anyone else think that it was more a ramp-up for Book Seven than a stand alone novel? Anyone else already willing to fly to the UK, track down JKR and DEMAND she finish Book Seven a WHOLE LOT quicker than she did Book Six?_

_My personal theory? Snape isn't as guilty as he's being made out to be, he and Dumbledore had some kind of a deal. There seemed to be more going on in that scene at the top of the tower than Dumbledore begging for his life. I suppose we'll see. In a year – or three! In the meantime, we have fanfiction to keep us occupied. And I have, as promised, embarked on a post-HBP fic. This one is to get the juices flowing, folks... comments are welcome!_

_BTW – I'm killing myself laughing at one particular reviewer... anonymous, of course, who flamed me and essentially attempted to rip me a new one several months back, being doggedly insistent that H/Hr was the direction that JKR was taking, and Harry would never look at Ginny as more than a mild annoyance... LOL! Take THAT, you ship-doubter you!_

_Now, on with the show!_

_CQ_

EVANESCENCE

_**ev·a·nesce** intr.v. To dissipate or disappear like vapor. n : the event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight; "the evanescence of the morning mist" _

Chapter One: Return to Privet Drive

Harry had thought that the return journey to London the previous year had been difficult. After Sirius' death at the Department of Mysteries, after his decimation of Dumbledore's office, after... well, after everything that had happened... Ron, Hermione... Ginny being injured. Neville and Luna...

Well, it had been bad. He'd been numb with shock, almost not present as the Hogwarts Express had pushed steadily south last June. But he would repeat that numbness, trade it in an instant, for the pain he was bearing now, in silence.

Across the compartment, Ron and Hermione spoke in soft, worried whispers. Ginny sat on the same side as Harry, but well away from him. What he'd said to her at Dumbledore's funeral took away her right to touch him, to comfort him, regardless of how much he yearned for her right now... her closeness, her hand on his arm, the smell of flowers that seemed to follow her about.

Harry knew that he couldn't give in to the longing, though. He couldn't pull her into his arms and sob into her shoulder, let her stroke his back with her hand, as he knew she would do. As he wished she would do. He couldn't make her even more of a target than she already was, just by being a Weasley, and his friend. Sirius' death had hurt him, almost beyond measure, and Dumbledore's death had been a blow he didn't know if he would ever recover from.

But Ginny...well, that would surely kill him.

The compartment door slid open and Ron turned, glaring at the person who had dared open the door and infringe upon their privacy. His silent response to potential intruders had already run off three seventh years, a sixth year and two third years who were looking for a prefect to reverse a hex gone badly wrong.

"Um... sorry, Ron. I just..."

Ron sighed, "It's okay, Neville."

"I didn't mean to interrupt, but..."

"Neville, come in," Hermione said softly, lifting her head from Ron's shoulder. Her eyes were still red rimmed, as they had been for the past three days. Since the day they'd sealed Dumbledore in his cold, white tomb.

"Can Luna...?"

"Yes," said Harry without turning away from the window. It was the first word he'd spoken in the four hours they'd been sitting there.

"I just..." Neville, still hesitating, was pushed into the compartment from behind to admit a pretty little blonde with huge, distinctive eyes. Luna came further in, shutting the door behind them and sat herself down between Harry and Ginny while Neville sat down in the corner of the opposite seat.

Luna looked hard at Harry until he turned to look back. They locked gazes for a moment, and Luna smiled.

"We all miss him," she said softly, "But he's not really gone."

Harry remembered his conversation with this strange girl at the end of the previous year, after the Department of Mysteries, while everyone else was attending the Leaving Feast. He smiled despite himself, and there seemed to be a collective sigh from the others.

"So, what's going on out there, then?" Harry sat up straighter, turning back towards the others from where he'd been slouched, staring out the window at the countryside as it passed.

"Well, two fifth year prefects caught Dean and..." Neville suddenly stopped, flushed, and looked down at his hands.

"Neville, Dean and I are over," Ginny said. "Have been for some time. Who'd he get caught with, and doing what?"

"They... snogging," Neville said quietly.

"Dean and _who_?" Ron asked with a laugh.

"Lavender," Neville's voice was almost a whisper. He glanced nervously up at Ron. "In the loo."

There was a moment of silence in the car as Ginny and Ron exchanged looks, then surprise as they both broke out into laughter.

"Good on her," Ron chuckled.

"I daresay Dean will appreciate her more than you did, Ron," Ginny giggled.

"Appreciation?" Hermione snorted. "Is that what they're calling it?"

Harry glanced around at his friends, and sighed. Ron and Hermione were determined to not let him do what he had to do alone. He knew that. He knew that short of stunning them and locking them in a closet somewhere, and stealing their wands for good measure, he wouldn't be able to leave without them. He could only thank Merlin that the other three hadn't gotten wind of his plans.

* * *

Their arrival at Kings Cross Station was much more reserved than it had been other years. Probably because the train was only barely half full. A lot of students had been fetched from the school by irate or frightened parents in the days after Dumbledore's death, Harry looked down the long platform to see two red heads bobbing toward them.

"Here come Fred and George," said Ron.

Hermione stepped off the train, levitating her trunk behind her.

"Okay, Harry, Ron... I'm off. I'll be at the Burrow in two days... should be Thursday right after lunch, then. Okay?"

"Your parents?" Ron glanced around.

"I told them not to pick me up, that I'd apparate. I have a lot to tell them, best that they get used to my doing things on my own."

With this, she quickly hugged them all, then, clutching the handle of her trunk, popped out of existence directly in front of them.

Ron sighed, "It's scary how good she is at that."

They met Fred and George as they approached the barrier. Harry, expecting their usual jovial greetings, was surprised when they merely nodded.

"Ron, Ginny... Harry. Alright then?"

"Where's Mum?" Ginny asked, her brow furrowing. Molly had _always_ met the train.

"At the Burrow taking care of Bill," Fred said. "She asked us to fetch you back to the shop and send you through the floo. Ronniekins can Apparate."

"So, I'm to be _fetched_, am I?" Ginny huffed. "Like a bloody package?"

Harry almost smiled at her reaction. Ginny's temper was one of the things he'd missed sorely this week. The twins, oddly, didn't respond to it.

"Got your things, then?"

"Yes," she snapped.

"Harry? You apparating, or...?"

"I'm going back to the muggles. For a few days, anyhow."

Fred and George just stared at him, dumbfounded. Harry had told them, and everyone else, really, often enough that, if it weren't for Dumbledore's insisting, he'd never have anything more to do with the Dursleys... ever. And here he was _choosing_ to return?

Harry met their eyes and felt his back stiffen. He had something he had to do, and he knew that.

"Dumbledore wanted me to. I'll go for a few days, and then I'll come to the Burrow on Thursday, like Hermione."

"Well, then..." Fred took a breath. "Let's be off, then."

As they walked through the barrier, Harry looked around.

"See your uncle, Harry?" Ron asked.

"No. But I'm sure he'll be along. I'll see you Thursday, Ron."

"Right, then," Ron stepped away, followed closely by Neville, and Luna until she spotted her father in the crowd and waved happily before running off towards him.

Harry turned to look down at Ginny, who stared up at him as though trying to commit him to her memory.

"You _are_ coming?" she asked softly.

"What?"

"Harry," she took a breath. "It will kill Mum if you just... disappear. You know that, right?"

"I'll be there, Ginny. I promise."

She smiled, then hugged him. "I know why you want it this way, Harry... why you feel it needs to be this way. I understand. It's okay."

Harry nodded jerkily against her soft hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in the flowery scent of her. He'd never forget that smell.

It damned near killed him to let her go, but he did, stepping back and swallowing the tears he could feel at the back of his throat. But he couldn't look away. Her deep brown eyes were steady as she stared back.

"Thursday?" she asked, hitching her bag up onto her shoulder.

"Thursday," he nodded.

"Well, we'll see you then."

And Ginny Weasley turned and walked away from him without once looking back.

* * *

Harry waited. And waited. An hour later he gave in and admitted that his uncle probably wasn't coming, and considered his options.

He could simply go to the Leaky Cauldron and...

No. Dumbledore had wanted him to return to the Dursley's this year, he had had his reasons, and Harry knew that he couldn't go against it... it was really the last thing he could do for the old wizard.

So, he had to find a way there. Did he have any muggle money?

Suddenly, he laughed. Was he a wizard or wasn't he? Looking around, he spotted a dark archway some thirty feet away and headed for it. Technically, he shouldn't be doing this, as he didn't have his apparation licence yet, but he also understood the finer points of magic tracking better than he had after his second year at Hogwarts. He knew that in a place as full of witches and wizards picking up the other students, his apparating would be dismissed as someone else, if it was picked up at all. Unless he performed magic somewhere where there was no expectation of magic being performed, he was safe.

And it wasn't like he was planning on returning to Hogwarts this year, anyhow. To snap his wand... well, the Ministry would have to catch him first.

He knew he couldn't apparate into the house, he assumed the wards would still be in place to prevent apparition and he didn't fancy splinching himself, but there was somewhere he could apparate to.

Thinking of his Destination, he gathered his Determination and mentally pushed himself. A moment later he, his trunk, and a very upset Hedwig were all standing in a sheltered copse of trees in the little park down the street from number four.

Sighing, Harry lifted Hedwig's cage in one hand and took the handle of his trunk in the other, and began to walk. He hadn't taken four steps when it began to rain.

"Bloody brilliant," he muttered. "I ought to hex Uncle Vernon for this... turn his fingers into..."

He saw the estate agent's sign before he got another step – or another thought – further. The front door was closed, the lights off. Even the front porch light in it's fancy brass stand was turned off. Aunt Petunia turned that light on herself every evening half an hour before Uncle Vernon was due home.

The house was dark. And there was a pile of weathered newspapers occupying the front step. Harry sighed again.

Trying the door, he found it locked and glanced around to make sure that no was about before pulling his wand from his pocket.

"_Alohamora_," the incantation was given silently.

The door clicked open and Harry entered quickly, pulling his things after him and shutting the door behind him. Leaving Hedwig and his trunk standing in the hall, he walked towards the kitchen.

The house felt empty. Not the emptiness of no one being home, but the emptiness of no one having been there in days. Harry was glad of the wand in his hand as he entered the kitchen and flicked on the light.

He spotted the box on the table immediately. There was an envelope sitting squarely on top. Looking around, he could see that all that remained was furniture. All the little items belonging to the Dursley's were gone. The walls were clear of the many pictures of his porky cousin, the china cabinet empty of Aunt Petunia's treasured crystal and Royal Albert place settings. There was a pile of boxes in the corner of the lounge marked "fragile" in Aunt Petunia's neat handwriting.

Looking back down at the envelope, Harry felt only a distant sense of resignation. He knew before he opened it what it contained, but he opened it anyhow.

"_Harry, we have made the decision to move overseas. Your uncle has been given a promotion. The movers will be coming for the furniture on the fifteenth of July, please be gone by then – Petunia."_

Despite knowing what the letter contained, her words hit him hard. They'd moved. They'd left without telling him. They hadn't even told him where they'd moved to, only that it wasn't in England. His mother's sister... the only family he had left had just abandoned him without a second thought.

Harry took up the box and headed back out towards the front hall. Without thinking, he placed the box atop his trunk, grasped Hedwig's cage tightly, and disapparated away.

Dumbledore's wards must have died with him, for Harry didn't splinch.

* * *

The Burrow was brightly lit as Harry apparated at the end of the long dirt drive and looked up at it. Turrets and towers and additions of every shape and size poked out at odd angles here and there... everywhere, really. The large tree which stood in the back yard framed it darkly against the evening sky. Stars were beginning to twinkle even now, although to the west the sky was still a pearly, iridescent blue.

Taking a deep breath, Harry began walking up the drive. He'd never knocked on the front door of the Burrow before. Apparently, there was a first time for everything. The door was answered by a cautious Arthur Weasley, for no one who knew where the Burrow was would bother to knock at the door... they'd use the floo.

"Harry?" Arthur looked surprised. "Harry, we weren't expecting you until Thursday..."

"What on earth?" Molly bustled into the hall, taking one look at Harry's white face and rushing forward to pull him inside. "Harry, what is it? What's happened?"

"I know I'm early," Harry said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go."

"Come in, out of the rain, dear..." Molly pulled him further in, and took Hedwig's cage from him. Hedwig hooted indignantly and ruffled her damp feathers. "Of course you came here, love, and rightly so! This is your home. Arthur, close the door!"

"Harry?" Arthur closed the door and took the trunk from Harry's hand as Harry heard rushed footsteps on the stairs. Looking up, he saw a curious, then surprised, Ron and Ginny.

"Harry?"

"What... your aunt and uncle?" Arthur held a hand up as he spoke to stop Ron from interrupting. "Did they not come to Kings Cross for you?"

"I... no. No, they didn't," Harry admitted.

"So where the hell have you been all this time, then?" Ron asked. "We've been home for hours!"

"I... I apparated to Little Whinging... I... Dumbledore wanted me to go there at the end of this year, so I went. But..."

"What happened, love?" Molly asked gently.

"They were gone."

"Gone?" Arthur Weasley looked at him, his blue eyes snapping. "Gone? As in...?"

"Gone. Moved. Left the country," Harry said. "Estate agents placard on the front lawn... my things packed and waiting for me. Gone."

"Oh... Harry... come, love, into the kitchen. You've not eaten since the train, then?"

"No."

"Come, there's a plate of dinner I'll warm up."

"Mrs Weasley, I'm... I'm not very hungry, I..."

"You've got to eat, Harry," Ginny came down the stairs quickly and grasped his arm, pulling him toward the kitchen. "Ron, take Harry's things upstairs."

Ron silently did as he was told as Harry was led from the room by his mother and sister, but not before he shared a concerned, and dangerous, look with his father.

* * *

Harry ate the chicken and vegetables that Mrs Weasley placed in front of him, and drank the tea that Ginny brewed, all wordlessly. He hadn't been lying, he really wasn't hungry, but it wasn't worth arguing with the Weasley matriarch, and the longer he spent in the kitchen, the longer it would be before he had to go upstairs and leave Ginny behind. So long as he sat at the table eating, he knew she would stay nearby. He desperately needed to be near her right now, even if he couldn't touch her.

So he ate. He ate everything on the plate, and when Mrs Weasley offered more, he took that, too. Numbly.

He'd known that the Dursley's didn't want him around. How could he _not_ know that, the way they'd been with him over the years? But going back to Privet Drive to find them already moved, with no forwarding address, on top of everything else, had just been too much.

But he didn't know if it was the shock of finding them gone, or his inability to follow through on Dumbledore's wishes for him to return there once more this year, that was making him feel like this. Like he had failed, somehow. Again.

"Alright, then?" Molly asked gently, touching his shoulder.

He nodded, but couldn't produce a smile.

"You should get off to bed then, Harry. It's after eleven."

"I... yes."

"Just a minute, Molly," Arthur said softly from the door. "Harry?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You apparated out of the house?"

"Yes, sir."

"You're underage, Harry," Arthur said solemnly. "And you apparated from a muggle house..."

"Oh," Harry stopped. The Ministry would know that magic had been performed in the house. "I... didn't think. I did an _alohamora_ to get in, as well."

"Give me your wand, Harry," Arthur said quietly.

"But..."

"Dad!" Ginny's eyes rounded.

Arthur held out his hand, and Harry solemnly handed over his wand. Aurors he could avoid, but Arthur Weasley? No.

Silently, Arthur took out his own wand and quietly touched his wand tip to Harry's. "_Transfero_."

"Mr Weasley?" Harry looked at him as Arthur handed Harry back his wand.

"You came here tonight, Harry. You came here directly from the twin's shop. You used the floo. Ron apparated. When you told us that the muggles didn't pick you up, _I apparated to Little Whinging to check on them_. Understand?"

And he did. Ron had, apparently, flooed with Ginny. They didn't track the apparation of adult wizards... Ron was of age. All the Ministry would know was that two people, a boy and a girl, had flooed through from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to the Burrow.

Arthur Weasley was covering for him.

"Sir... that spell..."

"_Transfero_?" Arthur smiled. "A little trick that Moody taught me. Now, you said your family left your things... how did you know they'd left... permanently?"

"All their things were packed and waiting for the movers, and Aunt Petunia left me a letter."

"Do you still have it?"

"Yes," Harry stuck his hand in his pocket and came out with the letter, which he handed over to Mr Weasley. "They _are_ gone, sir... I wouldn't lie."

"I'm not doubting your word, Harry," Mr Weasley looked up from the letter. "I'm just concerned about the speed with which they moved."

"They've had all year..."

"I checked in on them a week ago and there was no indication that they were planning anything."

"What?"

"Harry, since your first year, we've check in on the Dursley family regularly, how did you think that they knew when and where to pick you up every year?"

"I assumed..." Harry was surprised. "I assumed that the school notified... no?"

"No. Normally, that information was relayed by the students to their parents... or guardians... in the normal course of letters and such. It was noticed very early on in your first year that you didn't correspond with the Dursley's at all. The Order has been keeping them notified of when to be where ever since."

Harry wondered why his Uncle Vernon had always been going on about his "wierd" friends, on the strength of one mishap with the Weasley's and the Dursley's electric fire... but he'd never really questioned it before. Uncle Vernon certainly was the type to let something like that carry over for years, so he'd never considered that the Dursley's had had _ongoing_ contact with the Order.

"I see. Thank you, Mr Weasley,"

"I'm not sure for what," Arthur sighed as he sat down across from Harry and spread the letter out. "It wouldn't appear that our visits to them did much good."

"You cared enough to go. That means a lot," Harry said. "As bad as they are, I never expected this. I'm more surprised than hurt... and upset that I can't do what Dumbledore wanted me to do."

"Dumbledore?"

"He wanted me to go back there one last time this year. But I don't think that it would have done any good..."

"Why not?" Mr Weasley asked.

"The wards were down. I apparated out without a problem. I suppose his protections must have died with him."

Mr Weasley's face blanched. "What?"

"The wards on Privet Drive... I apparated through them. I knew that they were down the minute I walked into the house. I couldn't feel them anymore."

"You... feel them?"

"I..." Harry glanced over at Mrs Weasley and Ginny's shocked faces. "They hum. On Privet Drive, anyhow. I never feel them anywhere else. I assumed that it was because it was a muggle house..."

"And you say that they were... gone?"

"Yes."

"Harry... the wards on Privet Drive were done by a team of aurors and members of the Order. Dumbledore wove it all together, but..."

"So his bit must have come down when he died," Harry shrugged. "Mr Weasley..."

"The spells he used wouldn't have just... come down, Harry," Mr Weasley said firmly.

"But they must have, because they weren't there..."

"So they were removed," Mr Weasley said quietly. "Harry, did anyone know you were coming here?"

"I... unless someone was in the house..."

"Molly, floo Remus," Mr Weasley stood. "Tell him I need him and Moody here to help check the wards immediately. Then gather the children in Bill's room."

"Yes, Arthur."

"Mr Weasley, what is it?"

"Harry, no one from the Order removed the wards on your relative's house," Mr Weasley looked at him levelly, his eyes speaking for him. "Therefore, someone else did. And if they did, there is every chance that they did so to be able to get to you. And if they missed you there... they may know that you're here."

"I didn't come straight to the Burrow," Harry said quietly.

"What?"

"I apparated into the village... Ottery St Catchpole. I didn't know if I'd be able to apparate through your wards, so I..."

"Ah," Arthur looked mildly relieved. "Then they probably can't track you here, so long as the wards are in place. The Fidelius still protects us here, so long as Tonks..."

"Tonks and Remus are on their way, Arthur," Molly stood from the fire. "Moody is collecting Kingsley and a few others just in case."

"It should be okay, Molly. Harry apparated into the village. No one knows that we are here, we should be well protected. Take the children upstairs... I'll wait here for Remus."

Molly hustled them out of the room as Harry protested. Molly, however, was having none of it.

"Go. Now. Or so help me, I'll hex you into next week, young man!" Molly grumbled at him. "And don't think I won't! I raised Fred and George, remember!"

As they reached the first landing, Harry heard the floo fire and then Remus' voice. Relieved, he allowed Molly to herd he and Ginny up the stairs. It wasn't until they reached the door to Bill's room that he noticed he was holding Ginny's hand tightly.

Somehow, it felt right.

* * *

Fleur sat reading, curled up on the foot of Bill's bed. Bill was propped up against the pillows, talking to Ron who sat on a chair next to the bed about the Chudley Cannons.

"Harry!" Bill smiled. "Fancy seeing you here."

"How are you, Bill?" Harry came forward. The eldest Weasley looked better than the last time Harry had seen him, white and injured in a bed in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, only hours after being attacked by the werewolf who had attacked Remus all those years ago. As Bill had been attacked while the werewolf was still in his human form, they didn't know whether Bill would be contaminated by lycanthropy or not.

The night before had been a full moon. However, Harry knew from his study of werewolves in DADA that after being attacked it could take several months for the disease to take it's full effect. But so far, Bill looked well.

"Good, good... Mum?" Bill noticed his mother hovering at the door. "Everything okay?"

"I... we're not sure yet, Bill. Harry says the wards were down at the muggle's house, and your father has just called in a team to check our own..."

Bill stiffened. Harry saw his jaw set as he moved to put his legs over the side of the bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Molly shrieked. "Get _back_ into that bed!"

"Wards are my job, Mum," Bill said, pulling on a robe.

"You're _ill_!"

"No one Dad could call will be able to tell him as quickly or as surely as I can with a few minutes out of this bed. I'm going to check."

"Bill..."

"This is my _family_, Mum... _Fleur_ is here... do you think I'm going to risk _this_," he indicated to his face. "Or worse, for any of you? A few minutes and I'll be able to tell whether or not we're safe, as opposed to Moony and the others taking hours. Last night was a full moon, Mum... you know what kind of condition Moony's going to be in!"

Molly looked torn. She was only decided when Harry stepped forward. "You stay here with the others, Mrs Weasley. I'll go with Bill and make sure that he's okay."

"Harry... you're..."

"Do I need to prove myself again, Mrs Weasley?" Harry said softly.

"No," she said. "No... just be careful."

"Of course," Harry agreed. "Come on, Bill."

The two of them made their way down the stairs and entered the kitchen just as the floo erupted again, admitting Moody and Kingsley. Remus, Tonks and Arthur were waiting.

"Bill, Harry! What...?"

"I can check in minutes, Dad," Bill said gently. "Relax. I'll be fine. Harry's appointed himself my guardian, and you know what that means."

Tonks grinned, "That you'd better have your wand out."

"Precisely," Bill grinned back. Harry was surprised to see that the scarring that had looked so bad after the attack was already healing. Bill would never be the handsome man that had drawn the attention of so many girls again, but he wouldn't be as terribly deformed as Moody.

"Right then, Weasley," Moody clumped forward on his wooden leg. "Where do we start?"

Bill began to give orders, and the Aurors who had accompanied Moody hustled to carry them out. Bill sat at the kitchen table and began weaving a spell in front of him with his wand, muttering under his breath. As Harry watched, he could see the thin strands of light weaving together and coming loose, creating a knot the size of a football. After ten or fifteen minutes, Bill muttered a final incantation, and the strands of light disappeared.

"It's fine," he said, his voice tired. "The Burrow is well protected."

"The wards that Dumbledore...?" Arthur asked.

"They're fine. All accounted for and working fine," Bill looked tired. "Harry, I think I need to lie down. Could you...?"

"Of course," Harry helped him up and glanced at Arthur as he helped his eldest son from the room. "Okay, Mr Weasley?"

"I can't help but be relieved, Harry," Arthur nodded. "Tell Molly it's okay to come down."

Harry helped Bill to his room, where Fleur took over, clucking much as Mrs Weasley often did. Harry smiled.

"It's okay," Bill said. "I think Harry's apparating into the village will keep them from knowing exactly where he was coming..."

"Where else is there out here?" Fleur grumbled. "It's not like he'd be visiting anyone _but_ you out here, is it? There is no one else for miles..."

Ron and Harry's eyes met, shocked.

"Dear Merlin..." Harry said, standing and suddenly sprinting from the room, Ron close on his heels. They were through the door before understanding hit Ginny, who was then up and following them.

"Ginny, what...?" Molly called.

"The Lovegoods..." Ginny called over her shoulder. "Harry took Luna to a party this past year... and they live just the other side of the village!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: At the Burrow

The site of the Lovegood home was glowing. Harry knew full well that that couldn't be a good sign, had actually hoped that the glow the other side of the village wasn't where they were headed for... but Ron and Arthur, leading the way, headed directly for it.

As they crested the hill after navigating around the village itself, Harry saw the devastation below. The fire had been burning for some time. There wasn't much left.

"Dear Merlin..." Arthur muttered. "Ron, get your sister back to the Burrow..."

"That's my _friend_ down there!" Ginny sputtered. "I am _not_ leaving until we find her!"

Arthur glanced back at the determined look on his only daughter's face, then nodded. "Ron and Harry, you stay close to Ginny."

Arthur, the Order members and the Aurors they'd brought along approached cautiously, Harry and Ron flanking Ginny, their wands out.

"What do you think you're going to do with that?" Ginny muttered. "You're as underage as I am."

"Underage doesn't matter squat to me if there are Death Eaters here," Harry muttered back. "Don't even think I wouldn't use it, especially..."

"Especially?" she whispered, catching his pause.

"Especially if it means your safety."

Ginny was silent.

"Harry, what's that smell?" Ron asked quietly.

"I don't know. It smells like... sulfur?"

"What on earth...?" Ginny sniffed.

"Fireball," mumbled an auror from behind them. "It's the smell you get when you let off a fireball. They didn't stand a chance..."

Ginny's breath hitched in a sob. Harry felt the same way. Luna... loony Luna...

"Arthur? Arthur, is that you?" a voice called to them from the darkness.

Immediately, the aurors surrounded the group, but Arthur Weasley pushed his way through. "Damien?"

A figure approached from the darkness.

"Put your wands down," Arthur told the aurors. "It's Damien Lovegood... Damien... where is your daughter?"

"Here, here..." the tall wizard turned and searched the darkness. Luna stepped out from behind a tree, seemingly unconcerned, and approached the group.

"Harry? Ron? Ginny... what are you doing here?"

Ron and Harry traded glances.

"Um... your house is on fire...?" Ron looked at her, indicating the burning wreck behind them with his wand.

"We were concerned, Luna... we thought..."

"Oh, that..." Luna smiled. "It was the Nootskums."

"The what?"

"The Nootskums. They're angry with Daddy for taking down the oak tree in the back garden. Nothing to worry about, really... they don't normally get this angry."

"Luna... you could have been _killed_!" Ginny said, shocked.

"Oh, no. They made sure we were out of the house. I am sorry that I've lost my trunk, and Mummy's necklace, but Daddy and I are fine."

Harry and Ron traded another look, this one concerned. Was she suffering from shock, or was this really just Luna? Could _anyone_ live through a Death Eater attack and be so unconcerned?

"I suppose... well, we'll have to rebuild, lovey," the tall wizard said, wrapping an arm around his daughter. "We'll just have to rebuild."

"Yes, Daddy. Shouldn't take long."

"No, it shouldn't take long at all."

The others looked at each other, surprised, as the Lovegoods looked happily at each other.

"Well," Arthur Weasley coughed. "No matter, so long as you're both okay. Now... you'll have to come back to the Burrow with us for the night, at least."

"Oh, I'm sure they could put us up in the Leaky Cauldron," Luna's father smiled. "They have before..."

"Nonsense," Arthur said. "The Burrow is right there, and we've plenty of room. Molly would skin me if you didn't come back with us... come. I'm sure everything will look... er... better... in the morning."

And without further conversation, they turned as a group and made their way back to the Burrow.

"Ron," Harry whispered. "Did you notice anything... odd?"

Ron shot him a look of disbelief, "You're joking, right?"

"No... I mean... something seems... wrong, out of place."

"You mean you didn't notice?" Ginny joined their whispered conversation.

"What?" Harry looked over at her. Ginny looked back over her shoulder, then turned back to Harry and her brother, the glow of the fire illuminating her face.

"Look up."

They looked up into the sky, but Harry still couldn't figure out what Ginny was getting at. He looked down into her bright eyes.

"I don't..."

"No Death Mark," Ginny explained quietly, then turned to catch up to Luna and her father. Ron and Harry stood for a moment, watching the sky, before following the group back to the Burrow. When had there ever been a Death Eater attack without the Death Mark illuminating the night sky as a warning to all others?

"Maybe it _was_ the... Noot-whatevers," Ron whispered.

"Yeah," Harry searched the sky. "Maybe."

* * *

Hermione arrived just after lunch on Thursday. Harry, Ron and Ginny were lounging on the shady front porch when Ron stiffened and sat up, looking down the lane.

"Is that... it is!" he was on his feet and running down the lane before Harry or Ginny could turn, and was to Hermione before either of them were on their feet. They watched as the dark-haired witch hugged Ron, and as he took her trunk from her. She carried Crookshanks in a cat carrier at her side.

As they approached, Harry heard her scolding Ron.

"I can't believe you said that, Ron Weasley! Someone could have been terribly hurt!"

"It has begun," Harry muttered to Ginny. She didn't reply, but from the corner of his eye he could see her grinning.

"Luna... well, I guess you had to be there," Ron said quietly. "I'm glad you've come, Hermione."

Hermione suddenly smiled at him, and then glanced up to find Harry and Ginny watching her.

"Oh, Harry, you're here already! I wondered..."

"Harry's been here since Tuesday night, Hermione," Ginny said.

"What? I thought you were going to the...?" Her eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

"They weren't there when I got there," Harry admitted. "But everyone thinks my uncle just wasn't at the station, and I came home with Ron and Ginny... I'll explain later, Hermione. How are you?"

"Good, now that I'm here. Southhampton was so _hot_."

They entered the Burrow, and Hermione went off to greet Mrs Weasley with Ginny while Ron and Harry took her things up to her room. Harry carried the cat carrier with the spitting, growling Crookshanks inside cautiously.

"See?" Ron pointed out. "It's not just me. That cat hates everyone but her."

"Well, not everyone," Harry said, remembering how Crookshanks would curl up next to Ginny in front of the fire in the common room at school.

"It's still a menace," Ron grumbled. "I hope..."

"What?"

"Never mind," Ron shook his head, as they heard footsteps on the stairs. "Ginny. We'll talk later."

Harry felt a funny tug in his stomach. He'd gotten used to having Ginny nearby, even when they were talking about things that they might otherwise have excluded her from. Ginny had very quickly become part of him, and he felt... odd... to be keeping things from her, even if it was for her own good.

_And where have you heard that before?_ He thought.

But then, Hermione and Ginny entered the room, and all thoughts were suspended as they discussed how they were going to spend their afternoon.

* * *

"Harry?" Harry stirred on the blanket where he was lying in the shade next to the pond.

"Hmm?"

"Harry, we need to talk."

He opened his eyes to see Hermione sitting crosslegged next to him.

"Hermione... sorry... I fell asleep. Where are Ron and Ginny?"

"I'm right here, Harry," Ron's voice came from the other side. "Ginny's gone to help Mum. It's her night to help with dinner, mine to do dishes."

"Harry... we need to discuss..."

"Yes, we do," Harry turned, sitting up and leaning back against the trunk of the tree he'd been lounging under while the others went for a swim.

"We need to talk about how... what we're going to do."

"I don't know how we're going to get away, and with Harry not yet seventeen, they're going to..."

"We're not going anywhere until after I come of age, Ron," Harry said quietly. "I can't do anything without my wand, and if they catch me, they'll snap it in half."

"So, we're waiting until after your birthday?"

"I'm waiting to _leave_ until after my birthday," Harry said softly.

"Hold up, there..." Ron turned on him. "_We're_ waiting. We're going with you, Harry. Get that through your thick skull right now."

"Ron..."

"You still don't get it, do you?" Ron said softly, and it was this, as much as anything else, that made Harry turn and look at him squarely: Ron wasn't exploding.

"We're your family, Harry. Us. Hermione and I. We're your best friends, and we're going with you. This is as much our fight as it is yours, regardless of who has to do what."

"Dumbledore said..." Harry paused.

"What?" Hermione prompted him.

"He said it wasn't the prophecy that makes me the one, it's Voldemort himself. He chose me because of everything he's done to me, and I will not back down because of the person I am... who he helped create when he killed my parents."

"He was right," Hermione replied.

"He was bloody brilliant, is what he was," Ron returned. "You know you're going after him, and you know why... and it's got little to nothing to do with that stupid prophecy. We'd be doing this anyhow, Harry. You know that."

Harry swallowed. "Fair enough. But you've got to promise me..."

"What?"

"Promise me that you'll let me do what I have to do."

"So long as you'll let us do what we have to do, I don't see a problem with that."

After a moment, Harry nodded, then, looking at Hermione, he sighed. "Do you know where we can get a pensieve, Hermione?"

Her eyes rounded. "Why on earth would we need...?"

"Because there are some things you need to know, and I can't just tell you, I have to show you."

* * *

That weekend the Burrow played host to a very small, very quiet wedding ceremony between Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Standing for the bride were Ginny and Fleur's own sister Gabrielle. Other than Gabrielle and Fleur's parents, the only guests were members of the Order.

Bill was able to walk down the aisle with his bride on his arm, and later was found to be sitting down enjoying a glass or two of firewhiskey with, seemingly, no ill effects. Fleur never left his side for a moment.

All the Weasley siblings were there except for Percy, who was conspicuous in his absence. He'd been sent an invitation, and Molly had been expecting him to show up all day, but he hadn't. Harry listened as the twins and Ron plotted what they'd do to their elder brother for proving how much more of a git he was than even they had thought.

As the afternoon lengthened into evening, Harry managed to find Remus Lupin.

"Harry, how are you?"

"Find, Moony. I..."

"What is it?"

"I'm hoping you can help me with something."

"If I can," Remus agreed.

"I need a pensieve," Harry said quietly. "Do you know where I could get a good one?"

"What for, Harry?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Dumbledore told me once that he used his to... sort his thoughts out. When things seemed too much, when there was too much to think about, he said it was helpful to siphon some of it off until he'd made room for it. I... I think it might prove useful for me, too."

Harry hated misleading Remus, but he wasn't lying. Dumbledore had, in fact, told him precisely that back in his fifth year. And it would prove helpful at times to be able to divide his thoughts.

Remus looked at him strangely. "I don't know where you would get one from, Harry. But I know who had one."

"Dumbledore," Harry agreed. "I don't think that McGonagall would let me borrow it, do you?"

"No, but that's not who I was talking about. Your grandfather had one. James showed it to me once. I would imagine that it's in your vault at Gringotts."

"I... I _have _one already?"

"If it's still around. They're very rare... and very expensive. I doubt it would have been sold or given away. However, if it was in the cottage at Godric's Hollow when..."

"It could have been taken." Harry said.

"Yes."

"Moony?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you know my grandparents?"

"Yes, Harry. I did."

"Were they... were they good people?"

"Both your father's parents and your mother's parents were exceptional people, Harry. Your mother's parents were.. kind. Loving. They adored your mother, and she them. Unfortunately, they died before you were born. Your father's parents... were two of the most determined people I've ever met."

"How so?"

"They were determined to see the end of the Dark Arts. Your grandfather... well."

"What?'

"He died for what he believed in. Just as your father did, Harry. They were both good men."

"How did they die?"

"Your mother's parents were... attacked. In the night. During our sixth year."

"But they were muggles!"

"Muggles have always been a favorite target for Dark wizards, Harry. They can't defend themselves, and to those who follow the dark arts, this merely reinforces the superiority of the magical world over the non-magical."

Harry nodded. "And my father's parents?"

"Your grandmother died of an illness the year after we graduated. Shortly after James and Lily were married. No one really understood it at the time, but there was something quite suspicious about it. After, well, I wondered..."

"Wondered?"

"Peter spent a lot of time at your grandparent's home, Harry. After Sirius was freed... after I found out that Peter was still alive... well, I began to wonder if Peter hadn't had something to do with her death."

"You mean...?"

"What she suffered from was, looking back on it, very much like poisoning. But no one suspected... well. Your grandfather died the March before you were born."

"How?"

"A broken heart, perhaps. He missed your grandmother terribly."

"Really?"

"No, Harry," Remus smiled sadly. "He died from an Avada Kedavra curse."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"No one knows, I'm afraid."

* * *

The stars were still twinkling in the clear night sky when all the guests had left and Fleur had taken Bill up to bed. Mr and Mrs Weasley had disappeared soon after, Arthur telling Molly she'd worked too hard that day. The twins took the last bottle of firewhiskey and apparated away, and Charlie had headed up to the attic bedroom to sleep off the effects of a slight overindulgence in Shrivelfig wine.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the dark of the back yard. Ginny had disappeared, they assumed to go to her own bed, and Harry wanted to tell them all about the possibility of a pensieve being in the things in his vault at Gringotts.

"Wow... Harry, those are really, _really_ rare," Ron said. "Your grandad must have been..."

"Ron, come on," Harry said, removing his glasses and rubbing a hand across his eyes before sliding them back on. "You know that I'm not poor."

"No, but..." Ron flushed to the tips of his ears. "But it's not like we ever talk about it... not that we should, but..."

"Ron?"

"What?"

"I have a lot of gold. That doesn't mean that I'm happier... or even as happy, as you are. I'd trade it all to have what you have."

"What?" Ron snorted. "Are you _insane_?"

"Some things matter a whole lot more than money, Ron. Lots of things," Hermione pointed out.

"I know _that_," Ron said. "But it sure must make things easier."

"Why?"

"Look, Harry, you never got teased about your tatty hand me downs..."

"No?" Harry smiled. "You think muggle kids aren't as cruel as wizard kids? Let me tell you something, Ron, until I came to Hogwarts I never had a new thing _ever._ Eating candy with you on the Hogwarts Express? That was the first time I'd ever tasted it... much less bought it myself."

Ron looked at him, shocked.

"I slept in a closet until I returned to the Dursley's after our first year... and the only reason I got a room then was because they were frightened of Dumbledore. You thought it was funny that I was surprised that there were presents for me at Christmas during our first year? Let me tell you why. On Christmas Day I got to sit in my closet under the stairs and listen to them while they celebrated Christmas. My first... my _only_ memories of Christmas before I came to Hogwarts were of spending the day in there listening to other people have a good time. So while you're fixated on only having hand-knit sweaters and candy given to you, rather than the latest racing broom or fancy robes, try and remember that some of us didn't have that, despite how much money sat in a vault in Gringotts."

Ron was silent.

"Harry..." Hermione began.

"I'm sorry. I just... you have no idea of how lucky you are. And you're so bloody blind at times, it sends me over the edge."

"Blind?" Ron looked at him, the first note of anger in his voice. "How am I blind?"

"Look at what is sitting next to you, Ron... yours for the taking, if only you could admit to how you feel. I can't even have a relationship with the girl I lo..." Harry suddenly stopped, standing. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Harry!"

Harry heard Hermione's angry voice, but he didn't stop. He kept going, right through the house, up the stairs and past the room where a small, redheaded girl sat looking out her open window over the back yard in darkness, tears running down her cheeks.

* * *

The next morning Harry was up early. The others weren't down yet when he walked into the kitchen, but Mrs Weasley was there, and Mr Weasley was just finishing his breakfast.

"Mr Weasley?"

"Harry! You're up early."

"I need to go into Diagon Alley. What time does Gringotts open?"

"Diagon...!" Molly began.

"Seven in the morning. They should be open now, Harry. Do you think...?"

"I think it's so early that I can be there, in and out, and back before anyone realizes I've been. I really do have to go."

"Perhaps Remus could...?"

"No. I'll be fine, Mr Weasley. Really."

"Very well."

"Arthur!"

"Molly... the boy is nearly seventeen. Not to mention, he _isn't_ ours to tell yes or no!"

Molly stood staring at her husband, then glanced at Harry.

"You be careful!"

"I will, Mrs Weasley, I promise. Do you need anything while I'm there?"

"No. Go to Gringotts, do whatever it is that you have to do, and come straight home!"

"Yes, ma'am," Harry nodded, heading for the floo. He took a pinch of floo powder from the pot on the mantle and noticed there was very little left. There was _one_ stop he'd be making, in any case.

He flooed through to the twins shop and surprised Fred and George in the middle of taking inventory.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just on my way to Gringotts to get something out of my vault. You two need anything?"

"Ah, if you feel like picking up a few hundred galleons..." Fred grinned.

"I meant between here and there," Harry smiled.

"Nah, we're fine. You really shouldn't be out alone. Do you want us to...?"

"You sound like your mum," Harry said. Fred choked.

"I _what_?"

"She was upset at my going alone too. I'll be fine. I'll be back within the hour. Leave the door open for me?"

"Done," George nodded, going back to his counting.

Harry, despite his bravado at going alone, stuck to the edge of the street and walked quickly to the front doors of the goblin bank. Entering, he was immediately greeted by a goblin.

"Good morning, Mr Potter. And how can we be of service today?"

"Umm... Griphook?"

"After me, sir..."

The tiny goblin waddled away, leading Harry to a cashier's window.

"Good morning, Mr Potter. Quite early for wizards to be out and about?"

"Precisely," Harry nodded. "I need to access my vault."

"Certainly," Griphook nodded to the first goblin and Harry was quickly led to a trolley. Several hair-raising minutes later, he was standing in front of his vault, his key in hand.

"Wait for me?" he asked the goblin.

"I shall be right here, Mr Potter."

With that, Harry opened the vault and entered. The first time he'd been in here he'd seen the piles of gold and pretty much been blinded to everything else. Now, however, he noticed shapes in the dark behind the piles, and moved further in.

"_Lumos_," he said quietly, holding his wand up.

There were boxes and crates and trunks. Harry wasn't sure where to start.

But then, he saw a cabinet in the back corner... one much like the one, although not exact, in Dumbledore's office where he kept his pensieve, and he moved towards it.

Sure enough, on the third shelf sat a large stone bowl, very much like Dumbledore's. Harry extracted it, and then took two heavy drawstring bags from his pocket and filled them with galleons from the piles. Glancing at the door, he muttered a weightless charm, and the heavy bags were suddenly as light as feathers. Harry grabbed a crate, removed a rather ugly clock from it, and placing the pensieve and his bags in it, left the vault.

The goblin was waiting patiently by the trolley, and Harry climbed in silently.

"Do you require anything else, Mr Potter?"

"How do I exchange some gold for muggle money?" Harry asked.

"Griphook can do that for you, sir," the goblin set the trolley in motion and very quickly, they were back to the surface.

Harry was unsure of what the exchange rate was between pounds sterling and galleons, but he seemed to remember Hermione telling him that a galleon was equal to roughly seven pounds. He asked Griphook for ten thousand galleons to be removed from his vault and given to him in muggle cash.

"Ten... thousand?"

"Yes."

"Mr Potter... that is rather..."

"I know. I 'm not going to be able to access my vault for a while, Griphook. It's not a problem, is it?"

"No, sir," Griphood gave the goblin grimace that passed for a smile and then nodded, counting out the cash. Harry watched, then pocketed it, and with a nod, headed back the way he'd come in.

Halfway to the twins shop, he stopped off and bought a rather large bag of floo powder, a packet of self-inking quills and a huge package of parchment.

"Harry!" Fred greeted him as he entered Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes several minutes later. "That was quick."

"Had to be. I didn't want to be here when the alley starts getting busy for the day. Thanks for letting me use your floo."

"Anytime, anytime... any idea of what Mum is planning for dinner tonight?"

"No idea," Harry laughed. The twins always brought their appetites when they came home to the Burrow.

Flooing through, Harry decided that, as uncomfortable as apparating was, he preferred anything to the nauseated feeling he got in the Floo Network. He stumbled out into the kitchen of the Burrow, his box in his arms, and almost directly into the angry countenance of Ginny Weasley.

"Where were you?"

"I had to go to Diagon Alley," Harry said, placing the box carefully on the table.

"At seven in the morning?"

"Better than two in the afternoon, don't you think? There was no one there... it was empty. Much better."

"Mum was worried."

"I know. But I had to go, Ginny."

"Why? What couldn't have waited until we went for our school things?"

Harry looked at her, and Ginny paled before continuing in a much quieter voice. "The school isn't going to open this year, is it?"

"I don't think so, no. But it doesn't matter if it does, Gin."

"Harry?" her voice was soft, worried.

"Ginny, you know that there are things I need to do."

"I know."

"Until they're done... I won't be going back to Hogwarts, whether it's opened next year or not."

"But..."

"Ginny, I have to."

"I know," she nodded. "But maybe... maybe you could do it without worrying us all out of our minds?"

"Ginny, you know what I have to do, and you're worried about me going into Diagon Alley for an hour?" Harry laughed.

"It sounds silly, put like that," she glanced over her shoulder. "But Mum has enough to worry about, Harry, I'm really concerned about her... with Bill... and Phlegm living here now..."

"Be nice," Harry said quietly. "She's been much better since your mum stopped pretending Bill wasn't really going to marry her."

"I know."

"You know, you Weasley's can be intimidating to us outsiders."

"Outsider? When have you _ever_ been an outsider in this family, Harry Potter?"

Harry gazed at her for a moment, then shook his head. "It's been a while. I hope I never have to go there again."

"Why would you?"

Harry looked at her for a moment, considering, then smiled and turned away. "I bought your mum a present."

"You did?"

"She's not going to like it."

"Harry, what have you done?"

"I've been using your family's floo powder for five years now. I figured it was time I contributed," he pulled out the bag, and Ginny's eyes widened.

"I've never seen..."

"What?"

"A bag of floo powder that big before. Mum hasn't _ever_ bought that much at a time..."

"Where does she keep it?"

"Just in the pot..."

"That's not going to be big enough," Harry shook his head, eyeing the football sized bag of powder and the battered pot on the mantle that might have held, brimming, two cups.

"What are you two doing?" Hermione came sleepily into the room, rubbing her eyes. "Harry, where did you get that?"

"He's been to Diagon Alley this morning," Ginny said, a thread of irritation returning to her voice.

"Did you...?" Hermione asked, glancing at the crate on the table.

"Yes."

"Good. Well..."

"Hermione, can you..." Harry indicated towards the mantle meaningfully.

"What?"

Ginny grinned. "How are you at _Engorgio_?"

After Hermione enlarged the floo powder pot on the mantle, Harry dumped the bag into it and the three made their way upstairs, Harry carrying the crate. He had just made it to the door of his room when he heard a shriek from downstairs.

"Where did this come...? _Harry Potter!_"

With a smirk, he ducked into his room and placed the crate on his bed, tucked the two bags of galleons into the bottom of his wardrobe, wrapped the muggle money in a Weasley sweater and tucked it on top of the two bags, and closed the wardrobe doors just as his door flew open.

"Harry Potter! _Where _did that floo powder come from?"

"Flourish and Blotts," Harry shrugged.

"Young man, I _know_ how much floo powder costs and..."

"I noticed the pot was empty this morning. I used the last to get to Diagon Alley, so I bought a refill. Don't you all do that if you're the one to take the last of the powder?"

"No!"

"Oh. I rather thought it worked like the bathroom roll," Harry shrugged. "I know my Aunt Petunia used to get rather upset when Dudley or I used the last of that and didn't replace..."

"Harry, this is nothing _like_ the bathroom roll, and you know it! Floo powder is expensive..."

"I've been using it for five years, Mrs Weasley."

"Harry...!"

"I've done it, and I don't think Flourish and Blotts gives refunds, so...?"

"It's too much, Harry... I've never bought that much at once! It's..."

"It was the first bag I grabbed," Harry shrugged. "I'm sorry if I worried you this morning, Mrs Weasley. As you can see, I'm fine. Oh, and the twins wanted to know what you were making for dinner tonight."

"Cheeky..." Molly sighed. "There's going to be no reasoning with you, is there?"

"No."

"Fine," she huffed, turning from the room. "I don't suppose you've eaten anything yet?"

"No, actually."

"Breakfast in twenty minutes then. And tell Ron he'll not get any if he's not down for it."

And with that, she spun around and Harry watched her indignant figure stomp down the stairs with a grin.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Harry sat enjoying the largest breakfast he'd ever had at the Burrow, which was rather saying something. Sausages, bacon, egg, toast, muffins, and a stack of pancakes graced the table.

Ron sat down next to him, his eyes wide. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I _mean_, Mum _never_ makes this much unless it's a holiday or someone's birthday or..." Ron cast a meaningful look at Harry before he suddenly became suspicious. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Harry shrugged, taking another muffin.

Ron looked across the table at the girls, who merely smiled.

"Look, I don't like it when you lot keep stuff from me..."

"Join the club, Ronald," Ginny said coldly, then stood from the table and, leaving her plate in the sink, left the room.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked.

"I think we're going to have to tell her, Harry," Hermione said in a low voice so Molly couldn't hear.

"She already knows."

"You _told _her?"

"Not really... she was waiting for me when I got back this morning... it kind of slipped."

Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Not everything," Harry assured her. "Not about you two... just me."

"_What _about 'us two'?" Ron looked faintly confused.

"That we're going with him, Ron," Hermione hissed. "Harry, don't you dare think that by not telling her that part it's going to make us not..."

"Oh, I know you're coming, Hermione. I've given up trying to talk you out of that."

"Good," Hermione spread Molly's plum jam on a slice of toast.

"What are you two on about?"

Harry stood. "Ginny is upset, Ron, that we've not been telling her... _everything_. I think we need... _I_ need, to be honest with her."

"Harry..."

"I know, Ron. But I can't not tell her everything. I can't... I just can't."

Harry placed his plate and mug in the sink and headed out of the room towards the stairs, and Ginny. Behind him, he heard Hermione whisper at Ron again, but he couldn't make out the words.

He was on the stairs before he heard Ron's raised voice, "And where did all that floo powder come from?"

_

* * *

_

_Okay, long chapter, so short comments. I love you all to death, you know that? I think I'm turning into a review whore..._

_**Trixie7**: I think we've probably seen the last of the Dursleys here. I think there is going to be some limited explanations in Canon7, as JKR promised to tell us what Dudley saw when the Dementors attacked, and she has yet to explain that "remember my last" comment in the Howler to Petunia. _

_**RyougaZell:** The chapters, for the most part, will be longer in this one. I don't know why. They just are!_

_**Shotgunn:** Umm... yeah... right... that was ummm... because Harry was still wet from the rain in Little Whinging... that's it! I didn't make a mistake! It was Molly!_

_**Rowenhood:** Why, thank you! I love to hear from new reviewers! _

_**SouthernBelle:** Sorry, missed by four! But I love to hear from all of you, no matter what order you come in!_

_**FeinX:** I can only post so quickly – I average about one chapter a day, so hang in there!_

_**Merlindamage:** Where the heck have you been? I've posted some stuff over at the other site, but I've missed you here!_

_**Aerri:** Wow! What a nice compliment! Thank you!_

_**HarryGinnyluv4ever: ** Maybe we ought to charter a flight?_

_**Kazziedal:** Absolutely, if she doesn't kill him off first!_

_**LittleTom45:** Oh, they'll be back together in canon, count on it!_

_**GiGiFanfic:** Mwhaahahaha... another convert! Actually, I've considered that particular theory, as well... we never got to SEE him dead, other than lying at the base of the tower. I suppose we shall see.  
_

_**Gerie:** I just love it when you try to guess where I'm going._

_**And to the others, thanks much: **Hpgirl7777, NotAWriterYet, Treck, Old-Crow, Caddy94, TopQuark, SabineStrohemMoss, AlliBaby, KaleenaMason, TedMHammett, VT, WhatdoIhavetodo, Mountain, Volleypickle16 _


	3. Chapter 3

_Okay, I have received a serious honor this week, folks, and I just have to rave a little bit. I have had some of the most amazing reviewers here, and someone just made my day...week...month! I started writing fanfiction as an amusement, it quickly became a regular hobby, and now probably borders on a rather unhealthy addiction, but through it all I have been encouraged by the people who read what I write. Your encouragement, the corrections, the con-crit, all of it has given me back something I thought I'd lost years ago._

_Yesterday, I received notice from a reader that I now have a fanlisting. I thought she was joking... until I got her email telling me where to go to find it. It's here: geocities dot com slash brittsfanlistings slash creativequill.html. Forgive me for the blatant plug... but I am so unbelievably touched I had to share. _

_I can't thank any of you enough. Keep doing what you do. I don't think most of you understand what an honest review gives to someone who really, really wants to write, and write well. It's invaluable, so please, keep it up – it's so very important that we encourage those who would like to be writers, young and old alike, and such a tragedy what can be lost with a few uncaring words._

_CQ_

* * *

Chapter Three: Strengths and Weaknesses

"You weren't going to tell me, were you?" Ginny asked, her eyes full of tears.

"We hadn't gotten that far in the plan, Ginny," Harry said from where he sat on the edge of her bed. She had her back to him, staring out the window. "We don't even _have_ a plan yet. I hadn't considered taking anyone... Ron and Hermione... well, I don't imagine I could stop them if I tried."

"Well, you can't stop me, either, Harry Potter!" She rounded on him furiously.

"Ginny, no..." Harry looked up at her. "Ginny, this is going to be _really_ dangerous... and it's not going to be an overnight..."

"You think... you think I'd be a liability, don't you?"

"No, of course not. I just..."

"Don't you patronize me, Harry! Don't you _dare_!" She stood over him, looking down at him. Harry hadn't seen her this angry in a long time.

"Ginny," Harry rose from where he'd been seated and took her arms in his hands, holding her in one place, looking into her fiery eyes, trying to make her listen. "I'm not. Don't you see?"

"See _what_? I see that the three of you... oh, never mind!"

"Ginny, I couldn't bear for..."

"Hey, what's going on?" Ron said from the doorway. Hermione stood behind him.

"I'm just..." Harry sighed. "Fine. If I need to have witnesses to this, so be it. Ginny, it's not that I don't have faith in you... it's that if anything were to happen to you, that would be it. If he got hold of _you..._ I couldn't bear it, Gin. Losing Sirius was bad... losing Dumbledore was worse. If I lost you... he'd win, Ginny. Don't you understand that? He'd win!"

Ginny's eyes softened. "Oh, Harry! Don't you understand? I'm safer with you than anywhere else. I'm safer with you than here, at the Burrow. When school doesn't open in the fall, where do you think he's going to start looking for you?"

"I..."

"And when he doesn't find you here, do you honestly believe that he's going to leave us alone with a 'sorry, didn't mean to destroy your house, I'll just be off?' No, Harry... anyone at the Burrow when you're not here is going to die. You'd know that if you'd stopped to think."

Harry's eyes were wide. She was right. He hadn't thought. He had to move the Weasleys... they had to go somewhere safer.

"She's right, Harry," Ron said gently. "As much as I hate to admit it, she'd be safer with us."

Harry nodded stiffly. Ginny seemed to let out a pent up breath.

"But what about your parents? And the others?"

"We'll have to do something about that," Ron agreed, surprisingly calm. "But Ginny needs to be with us."

Harry finally realized that they were right. So long as Ginny _wasn't_ with them, he'd wonder if she was safe... that was a distraction that he couldn't afford. And... well, he was human enough to admit that he'd be better with her nearby, as well. That he _wanted_ her nearby.

"It's not going to be easy. You all understand that, right?"

"Harry," Hermione spoke. "We didn't expect it to be."

"Fine. Come with me," Harry retreated from the room, heading towards his own. "And bring your galleon bags."

Five minutes later, after Ron had spent four searching under his bed for his little-used and mostly empty galleon bag, they congregated in Harry's room.

"Hermione... some privacy?"

Without a word, Hermione locked the door and set a silencing charm on the room. Ginny curled her feet under her at the end of Harry's bed, Hermione pulled his desk chair up beside it, and Ron perched on the window sill at the head of the bed. Harry rooted in the bottom of his wardrobe, coming out with quills and parchment, several lumpy bags, and a Weasley sweater.

"Harry? What's all that?"

"In a minute, Ron," Harry said, laying the stuff on the bed and sitting down. He handed Hermione three quills and a stack of parchment. "We all have strengths, right?"

"Right," Ginny said. Hermione nodded, and Ron looked suspicious.

"And we all have weaknesses," Harry said. "We need to help each other there. Hermione, your strength is your knowledge, your ability to research things. You're smarter than all of us put together."

Hermione glowed under this praise.

"But," Harry swallowed uneasily. "You tend to believe that authority figures are always right. And they're not, Hermione. Not always."

She looked away for a moment, then turned back, tears in her eyes. She nodded once, jerkily.

"The way I see it, you need an authority figure to follow," Harry said gently.

"I..."

"Hermione, you _do_," Harry insisted. "I don't want to argue with you. Please."

"Fine," she nodded.

"So that's me," he said. "You've told me often enough that I have to lead. Well, to do that, I have to have someone to follow me. You have to understand that what I have to do makes me the authority on this. Do you understand?"

"Harry..."

"You were fine with it in the DA club, Hermione," Ron pointed out. "You accepted Harry's direction then."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, you're right. I have another fault, Harry... I don't like finding fault with myself. I try to be the best I can be, but... well, you're right. My strength is my ability to research, and my ability to find things out... and I _am_ smart, but..."

"We have to admit our faults, too, Hermione, or this isn't going to work. We have to admit that others are better than us at some things, so that we can work as a group."

"I know," she said. "And you're right. It's just... it's hard to not believe that the Ministry is..."

"A complete balls up?" Ron snorted. "Come on, Hermione... they think Percy is the best thing that ever happened to them!"

"Percy is good at..."

"Percy has an iron rod up his backside," Ginny spoke clearly and firmly. "Leaders cannot be intolerant, Hermione. Percy is. That is _his_ greatest fault. And the reason the people at the Ministry like him so much is because they are, too. Do you really want to believe in people who are intolerant of others?"

"No," Hermione's brow wrinkled. "No, Ginny, you're right. No, I don't. Harry, I accept what you say... you're right. I need someone to follow, to believe in. I do believe in you."

"Good," he smiled. "That'll help. Ron."

"Great," Ron muttered, turning red.

"Ron... you're the best strategist I know. I know that that probably isn't saying much... or maybe it is, I guess... as I know Voldemort, and he's pretty good. But you're better. We need that. We need to strategize better than he does... and we need to have information to do that. We're going to need to size up situations and act quickly... make decisions quickly. Kind of like being Keeper. That's your greatest strength, and something we're going to need... desperately."

Ron glowed faintly, then swallowed. "But...?"

"But your temper gets the better of you. Often. Too often. You fly off the handle at the slightest provocation, and you need to stop that. Not every comment someone makes is a personal attack. And you're way too sensitive about being poor. Your family doesn't have much money, but you've got a _lot_ of love... something a lot of us with more money than we know what to do with would gladly trade everything for. You need to get over that, Ron. I can't have someone beside me who is going to lose it if the Death Eater we're facing, which could very well be Malfoy..."

Ron growled.

"... insults your robes. Or your sister."

Ron nodded once, jerkily.

"Can I count on you?" Harry asked quietly.

Ron's eyes met Harry's. They stared at each other for a long minute, almost seeming to communicate.

_Maybe they are, _thought Ginny

"Yes."

"Good." Harry sighed. That had been hard. "Ginny..."

Ginny looked at him expectantly, almost as though she was ready for the worst. Her spine was straight, and she met his eyes with her own, proudly. Harry stared at her.

"I can't."

"What?"

"I can't. You're..." Harry took a breath. "Hermione?"

Hermione seemed to understand.

"You're tenacious, Ginny. You never give up. And you believe in the people you care about," Hermione took over. "You're loyal to a fault, and you don't allow other people to give up, either. But..."

Ginny was still watching Harry.

"But..." Ron continued. "You put yourself in danger for no reason... you jump into things without thinking. You have as bad a temper as I do, and you lip off without considering the consequences."

"Thanks, Ron," Ginny said. "Like you're..."

"That's it, Gin," Harry said softly. "You can't leave it alone. Someone says something, you've got to have the last word. There will be times when we'll have to smile and walk away, as though what has been said or done doesn't bother us, and I'm not at all sure you'll be able to do that. I don't want to have to drag you out of situations for your own good. I don't want to get _into_ situations that we might have avoided if you..."

"Harry..."

"I need to know that if we need to make a quiet retreat from a situation, I'm not going to have to go back in and drag you out of a room full of pissed off Death Eaters, Ginny. We can't have that kind of distraction. And sometimes, we'll be looking for information... quietly... and I can't be wondering if you're going to hear something and snap and start throwing bat bogey hexes. A lot of what we do will depend on our being almost invisible. I need to know that you can do that."

Ginny nodded, her eyes not leaving Harry's face. "I can do that, Harry. I might need a reminder now and then, but I can do that."

"Good. Now..."

"Oh, no," Ron snorted. "We got to sit here and listen to what you thought about us, Harry. Payback time."

"I..." Harry looked around at the others. "Fine."

"You've got a saving people thing," Hermione smiled. "I mean, you're incredibly loyal, and brave... and you seem to instinctively seek out the people who most benefit from being around you, and draw them in. You see other people's problems as your own, and you want to help everyone."

"A true Gryffindor," Ginny smiled, her smile fading as she continued. "But you push people away. You think you protect them this way, because you percieve yourself as somehow a danger to those you love... when really, their biggest strength comes from being loved by you. You love completely, Harry, but you don't accept the same back."

"You'd fight to the death for what you believe in, but you walk away from the simpler things," Ron pointed out. "And you don't fight for yourself. You somehow believe that everyone else is more worthy than you. You've got a thing about growing up without parents..."

"And you somehow believe that your world would be perfect if only they had lived," Hermione continued. "You do others... the people you loved and have lost... an injustice, Harry. You don't allow them to be human, with human faults and frailties. Your parents were probably good people... but they were _people_. Your mum probably lost her temper sometimes, just like Ginny does... and your dad probably did stupid things occasionally..."

"He did," Harry said, thinking of the memory of Snape's by the lake.

"You need to stop believing that it won't really matter much if you die doing this," Ron said quietly. Harry looked up at him. _How did Ron...?_

"Because it _will_ matter," Ginny said, her voice catching. Harry turned to her, and saw the tears in her eyes. "It _will_ matter, Harry. It will."

They were all silent for a moment. Harry couldn't talk... he could only stare at Ginny, who stared back, her tears falling without shame.

"So, can we all accept what has been said here... as truth about about ourselves, even if it's someone elses perception of that truth?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Ron said immediately. "Yes. We need to plan this... we need to really think out..."

"We need to teach Ginny to Apparate," Harry said quietly. "And Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"You need to learn how to properly ride a broom."

"I can...!"

"Without screaming in terror, Hermione," Harry said dryly.

"I don't..."

"You do, Hermione. Last time you were on a broom, you bit your lip so hard it bled," Ron pointed out.

"It's... I don't like heights," Hermione's cheeks were pink.

"No, but you're going to have to work on that. We're going to have to be able to ride our brooms. At times, we might even have to ride them long distance...and you managed the thestrals, Hermione, all the way to London."

"I had to," she pointed out.

"Well, now you have to learn to ride a broom. Properly."

"Right," she straightened her back with determination. "When?"

"We'll start this afternoon," Harry said. "Now, we're going to have to plan this out. Hermione needs to learn to ride a broom, Ginny needs to learn to Apparate... Hermione, are you taking this down?"

Hermione laughed, and began to write.

"We need to find somewhere safer than the Burrow to move your family."

"How are we going to manage that?" Ron asked, worriedly.

"In the end, Ron, we'll manage it," Harry said confidently. "In the end, everything will work out. It has to."

"We have to plan what we need to take," Ginny said softly. "We can't be carrying our trunks around, so we can't take everything. We're going to need to have just a rucksack... what we can carry on a broom comfortably."

"Good point, Ginny. You do that," Harry instructed.

"What?" She turned surprised eyes on him.

"Plan out what we need. And we might be camping out quite a lot," Harry said.

"I..." Ginny considered this. "Okay. We might need to buy a few..."

"Yes," Harry said, pulling out the sacks he'd placed under the Weasley sweater. "Got your galleon bags? Good."

"Holy Merlin, Harry!" Ron shouted as Harry opened and dumped the first bag of galleons onto the bed. He didn't pause as he opened the second and did the same. There was a rather large pile of gold there. "Hermione, divvy it up."

"How much?" she asked.

"There should be about a thousand galleons there. Put a weightless charm on everyones bags, too, if you can?"

"Of course, Harry."

Harry left her to it as he unwrapped the stack of bills in the sweater. Ron, apparently was speechless.

"Is that...?" Ginny swallowed.

"Seventy thousand pounds... muggle money," Harry said, beginning to divide the bills into piles.

"Harry..." Hermione stared.

"How much is that?" Ron asked numbly. "In real money?"

"About ten thousand galleons," Ginny said, then blushed. "I think."

"You took muggle studies," Harry smiled. "You ought to know."

"Harry, do we really need this much...?" Hermione looked at him, her eyes doubtful.

"Yes. I don't want to think of any of us stuck anywhere with no money."

"That's more than a little cash, Harry," she glanced down at the pile, then back to him, her concern obvious.

"I know, but I don't know if I'll be able to access my vault when the Ministry finds out what we've done. They might..."

Hermione nodded. "Do you think that that will be enough?"

"Enough? _Enough_?" Ron looked at her. "Are you mental? Eleven _thousand_ galleons, Hermione?"

"Ron," Harry said softly. "This might take years."

Ron looked at him, stunned speechless yet again. "Years?"

"Ron... we can't be sure. We have no idea where the horcruxes are. None."

"The what?" Ginny asked.

"The horcruxes," Harry said softly. "That's what we're after. We have to destroy four of them before we face Voldemort, or we won't be able to kill him."

The other three were silent, but took the money, and put it in their pouches.

* * *

Teaching Hermione to ride a broom was relatively easy. They simply took the brooms out into the orchard and practiced. Within a week, Hermione had it down, at least to the point where she could get from A to B without crying out, or clinging to her broom, or flying only a foot and a half off the ground. She certainly didn't zip around like the others, but she could manage to get around reasonably fast, and without throwing up.

"Good," Harry said. "This is good."

"But what are we going to do about Ginny?" Hermione asked. "What if she splinches... what if...?"

"Hermione, we need to teach her just like we were taught," Ron replied. "We start slowly, and then just do it."

"Do you remember what the professors did when Susan Bones splinched?" Harry asked her.

"I... yes... yes... I think so."

"Do you think that you could figure it out for sure? Talk to Mrs Weasley... or maybe Bill would be better?"

But in the end, Bill clued in to what they were doing. Apparently, Hermione had another weakness. She was unable to bluff...at all.

"So, what are you four up to, then?" Bill approached them in the orchard as they were talking to Ginny about the theory one afternoon. They all froze. "Relax. I know full well what you're doing."

"We..."

"Harry and Ron want me to know how to Apparate, Bill... in case we're ever under attack," Ginny lied smoothly. Harry was still amazed by her ability to take a grain of truth and turn it around, making it sound convincing.

"Like you'd run, Smidgen," Bill snorted. "Right. I agree."

"What?" Ron looked shocked.

"I think that having to wait until you're seventeen to learn to Apparate is ludicrous," Bill said. "It's downright dangerous. Everyone should be taught how. It would save lives. If the Ministry ever got their heads out of their backsides long enough to... well. Let's see then... where have you gotten to?"

"Bill, you're aware that what we're doing is... not quite legal. Right?" Harry asked quietly. "The consquences for us would be bad. But for you..."

Bill laughed. "I've been a curse breaker for eight years, this is the least of what I'm guilty of, Harry. And if it saves my sister's life, the Ministry can do to me what they'd like."

Which is how Bill took over the tutoring of Ginny in how to Apparate. Within days, she was better than any of them at it, and even managed to apparate in and out of rooms without the distinctive popping sound that most people made. Ginny could do it absolutely silently, which might have come from the need to keep it from Molly. And she never splinched herself, not even once.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Coming of Age

By the thirtieth of July, Ginny could apparate, Hermione could fly a broom almost happily, and they had a plan for what they needed to take with them. But Harry hadn't yet shared his memories... the memories that Dumbledore had given him of Tom Riddle's life, and the story of the Horcruxes. He was hesitating, as though that was somehow a final step, a final commitment. Perhaps it was.

The day before his birthday, he decided that it was time. Arthur Weasley had told him that the following day he was going to take Harry in to the Ministry for his Apparation test, and Harry was relieved that he'd finally be able to do it legally. It was one less worry.

But Ginny wouldn't be seventeen for another year yet. Harry worried about that.

"Relax, Harry," Ron had said the night before as they were leaving Harry's room. The girls had gone ahead, leaving Ron there alone. "I'm as guilty as you are."

"What do you mean?"

Ron flushed. "Come on, Harry. You don't have to say it for me to know what you're thinking. When we go, I'll be as guilty as you... Ginny'll still be a minor. The Ministry would consider it kidnapping, you know."

"I know," Harry said quietly. "But we can't leave her. Not now."

"She wouldn't let us even if we tried."

"Your mum is going to hate me," Harry said. "She is. You know it."

"Yeah, but she's going to hate me, too," Ron shrugged. "Does that mean that we shouldn't do it?"

"It doesn't matter at this point," Harry sighed. "It's got to be done."

"Yep," Ron agreed. "It does. So stop second guessing your decisions and let's get it done, shall we?"

"Right."

* * *

As soon as Arthur had left for work, Molly bustled about, and informed them that she was off to the market. Harry gathered the others in his room, and Hermione made sure that the room was secure while Harry got out his pensieve.

"Wow," Ron looked at it carefully, studying the runes along the sides.

"Have you tried it yet, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Not yet."

"Maybe you should...?"

"Before I drag you in, as well?" Harry chuckled. "I was planning to, Hermione."

Hermione flushed.

"What does it do, Harry?" Ginny watched carefully as he prepared the pensieve on his desktop.

"It let's you relive someone elses memory, Gin... or your own."

"How?"

"I'll show you," Harry said, touching his wand to his temple and drawing out the thin silvery thread of a memory. The first one that Dumbledore had shared with him. When it was a silvery puddle in the bottom of the pensieve, Harry smiled. "Watch..."

At which point he immersed himself in the memory and relived it to the end. Surfacing, he smiled at them.

"But... you were barely gone a minute," Hermione looked at him.

"I think time passes differently when you're in there," Harry said quietly. "Ready?"

They spent the rest of the day exploring and discussing the memories that Dumbledore had given him. Hermione and Ginny were fascinated, and Ron was nervous, but they managed to take in all the information that Harry had for them, and sat for ages discussing it afterwards.

"We need to track his movements... from the first memory on," Harry pointed out.

"But Dumbledore has already done that," Hermione pointed out.

"We have to do it again, Hermione," Harry replied.

"It makes sense, Mione..." Ron said. "If we track where he was, and who died around him, we might be able to find the horcruxes. If you have to take a life to create one, then the deaths that he caused will indicate _when_ he created one, and if we know where he was and what was going on around him at the time, we might be able to extrapolate where... and what... they are."

Hermione beamed at him.

"What?" Ron looked at her, uncomfortable.

"You used the word 'extrapolate'."

"Yeah...?"

Hermione didn't respond, she just continued to grin happily. Ron rolled his eyes meaningfully at Harry.

* * *

Harry flooed into the Ministry with Arthur the following morning. He was led to the Magical Licencing office and Arthur waited patiently for him.

"Go on, then. I'll just wait here and when you've done you can Apparate home."

Harry smiled. Arthur Weasley had rather a lot of faith in him, it would seem.

In the end, it wasn't unfounded. Harry managed a short distance apparation, then a medium distance apparation, Apparating to the twins shop in Diagon Alley and back, having had Fred sign the paper they'd given him to prove he'd been there.

As he'd done so well, not only was he licenced to apparate, but he was given the opportunity to try for a long-distance licence, as well. Hermione had one of these... and Harry was absolutely certain that, if Ginny had been applying, she'd have managed it, as well. Ron had barely missed it. He'd left a tooth behind when he'd tried.

Harry was told to apparate to Paris and back. He knew he could do it, although he was nervous about apparating across water. Hermione said it felt different, and he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to know how what he'd experienced so far could be different.

When he tried it, however, he found it wasn't any more unpleasant than normal apparition. A brief feeling of being underwater... and then nothing. He was standing in the Ministry office in Paris. The clerk signed his paper and he returned.

Arthur was glowing when Harry emerged from the testing office, the bright yellow licence in his hand.

"Long distance, then? Excellent, Molly will be very proud... why, only Bill and the twins managed long distance on their first try..."

"First try?" Harry looked at him. "You can try again to better your licence?"

"Of course. Not that you'll have to... that's the best there is."

"I was thinking of Ron, actually," Harry said quietly.

"Well, Ron may like to try..." Arthur looked at Harry. "Harry, Ron's problem isn't his ability, it's his confidence in his ability."

"I know. For some reason he always..." Harry stopped, not sure of how to go on.

"He stops just shy of his best, allowing you and Hermione to surpass him, just to have something to gripe about," Arthur said casually. Harry looked up at him. "I know my son rather well, yes?"

"I... I'm not sure that Ron thinks of it that way, Mr Weasley."

"I'm sure he doesn't. But it doesn't change the fact that that is indeed what he does."

"Why?" Harry asked. "We've never understood it, Hermione and I."

"Why does Bill jump in where angels fear to tread? Why do the twins get up to so much mischief? Why does Ginny fight first and ask questions after? Why does Charlie enjoy putting himself in danger needlessly? Why does Percy... well... all of my children are precious to me, Harry... but as their father, I can see their faults. Ron... Ron is typically the youngest boy of a family with many children. He often felt he was last in line... and it's a hard habit to break."

"He's not," Harry said. "It's not like that in your family."

"It's like that in any family, to some degree. Even if it's only perception that makes it that way. Ron will outgrow it... eventually. Probably when he has a family of his own."

"Mr Weasley?" Harry looked at the older man.

"What is it, Harry?" Arthur asked as they reached the apparation point for the Ministry.

"I have to do some things. You know that, right?"

"Yes, Harry," Arthur nodded, glancing around.

"I..."

"I know my children are in this up to their eyeballs, Harry. But I trust you to do what you have to do, without worrying about what others will think."

"I..."

"Don't worry, Molly will forgive you anything."

"Not this," Harry muttered.

"This, too," Arthur smiled sadly. "We'll talk... later. Okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Off you go then... I'll see you later."

"Thanks, Mr Weasley."

"You're welcome."

Harry couldn't quite decide, as he watched Arthur Weasley turn and head back towards his office, whether or not the older wizard knew what Harry had been talking about or not. He rather hoped he had... but if he hadn't, he soon would. It was nearly time.

* * *

When he reached the Burrow, he found that while he'd been gone the others had arisen and prepared a birthday breakfast for him. He grinned at the stack of presents next to his plate, and sat down happily while Ginny poured him a cup of tea.

"So... let's see it then," Ron grinned. Harry pulled out his licence and handed it across the table.

"Long distance? You made long distance?" Ron looked at him. "I didn't make long distance... bloody molar..."

"Ron," Harry looked up. "You're going to try again."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I've got my licence, Harry."

"And you're going to go back tomorrow and try for your long distance licence."

"I couldn't..."

"You're going to, Ron. You need it," Harry said firmly, levelling the other boy a look across the table.

"I..."

"You really do, Ron. I know you can do it," Hermione leant down and kissed him on the cheek, flushing before she turned away to get the plates from the counter.

Ron flushed.

"I'll try."

"You'll do more than try, Ron," Harry said in a low voice. "You'll go in there and do it. I need to know that you're there... no matter where. Understand?"

Ron stared hard at him for a moment before nodding. "Tomorrow."

* * *

Dinner that evening was at Harry's request, a quiet affair. Molly had been prepared to invite half the school for Harry's seventeenth, but Harry had insisted she restrict it to Remus, Tonks, the family and a few members of the Order.

"I should see if Percy..."

"Molly, you will not be inviting Percy," Arthur said quietly. He'd come home for lunch, strange in itself, but having him say something like that to his wife had all four teenagers sitting at the table looking up in astonishment.

"Arthur?"

"Molly, I have been patient about this whole ordeal. But after what Percy did at Christmas, it's going to take rather more than his accepting an invitation to dinner for me to forgive him. The _only_ reason he came at Christmas was because it would get the Minister in here to grill Harry. I was willing to not be bothered about Bill's wedding invitation, but he didn't even bother to owl to decline. No, no more. The next invitation that that young man recieves from this house will be after he's gotten his head out of his backside and apologised, and not before."

"But, Arthur..."

"No more, Molly," he said quietly before going back to his paper.

Harry turned surprised eyes to Ron, who looked back and shook his head. They quickly finished their lunch and made to leave the room.

"Harry, a word?" Arthur put down his paper. They all sat again.

"In private, please," Arthur stood and headed towards the door. Harry followed.

They walked out to the orchard, and then continued around it, Arthur hadn't said anything, and Harry waited patiently.

"Harry, with Dumbledore gone..." Arthur stopped. "Since his death, several things have happened."

"Oh?"

"The Order..."

"What about it?"

"I've been put in charge. With the loss of Dumbledore and Snape..."

"Don't," Harry said quietly.

"Don't what?"

"I don't ever want to hear that name again."

"Harry..."

"I told Dumbledore... I warned him. I _knew_, and I told him, but he wouldn't listen to me!"

"We all tried, Harry. I'm not sure why Albus trusted him so completely... or Mundungus either, for that matter. Dumbledore liked to see only the good in people. He strongly believed that everyone _had_ good in them. Some of us disagreed... some of us agreed to believe that he knew things we did not... and accept his decisions based on that. We were wrong. He was wrong. It cost us a little faith, Harry, but it cost Albus his life."

"We lost him... he was... he was our hope, Mr Weasley... he was the only one who could tell us what to do..."

"Do you need telling, Harry?"

"What?"

"You know what you need to do."

"How do...?"

"When you started seeing our daughter last year, Harry, Albus saw fit to inform us of the reason for your involvement in the Order."

"Oh..." Harry flushed. So far as he had known, the Weasleys had never known about him and Ginny.

"What happened, Harry?"

"I... when?"

Arthur looked at him for a moment. "Albus told us that you and Ginny were... close. But I see no indication of it now."

"Oh," Harry flushed further. "I... at the funeral... I told Ginny that she... she would be safer if..."

"But she's not. None of us are, Harry."

"I know."

"Don't be afraid to admit a weakness.. or a strength. Don't be afraid to take what little happiness is offered, while you can."

"But..."

"Ginny is a Weasley, Harry. I am now head of the Order. Do you think that Voldemort doesn't know that?"

"How could he?"

"Oh, he knows," Arthur smiled.

Harry turned and began to walk again. Arthur followed.

"I... I know what I have to do."

"Yes."

"I'm not returning to school this year, Mr Weasley."

"I know that too, Harry."

Harry glanced at him, then looked straight ahead again. "Ron and Hermione..."

"I know."

"How?"

"Like they'd let you go alone? Hermione was back here like a shot this summer... she's frightened to let either of you out of her sight. She thinks you'll leave her behind."

"Ginny..."

"Won't let you go without a fight."

"I don't intend to fight her on it, Mr Weasley," Harry said softly. "I can't. I'd lose anyhow, and..."

"And you want her with you."

"I thought she'd be safer if we left her behind, but..."

"But no one is going to be safe here, Harry, once you're gone."

"She thinks she'd be safer with us."

"She will."

"Are you...?"

"Molly would have my hide if I said any such thing, Harry. But know this... I have every confidence in you... and my son... and my daughter. You will do what you have to do. Being head of the Order gives one a rather different perspective."

"Mr Weasley, I can't tell you when... but it might be sudden. You understand this?"

"Yes."

"When we go... there might be no warning."

"I know that, too."

"But the Burrow won't be safe. You're right. As soon as September comes and school doesn't let back in, the first place they'll look is... well, they'll look for the Burrow... and I suppose I don't have the confidence that I should that they won't find it."

"I am aware of that."

"Ron and I have been talking, and I'm not sure that Grimmauld Place will be any safer. Snape had access to it, and even with the fidelius reset... I'm nervous."

"Yes."

"I don't know where else there is."

"Well, it will sort itself out. We've got a few days, anyhow."

"I hope so," Harry said quietly as they headed back to the Burrow. He really, really hoped they had a few days.

* * *

Remus and the others were there when Harry and Ron came down for dinner that night. Ginny was helping her mother carry bowls out to the long table they'd set up in the back yard, and Hermione was looking for Crookshanks.

"What she'd do if that ruddy cat wasn't..." Ron stopped. "Harry?"

"What?"

"What are we going to do with Crookshanks? And Pig? And Hedwig?"

"Hedwig and Pig can fly, Ron... Crookshanks will have to stay."

"Hermione's going to pop a string," Ron shook his head, continuing down the stairs.

"We have bigger problems."

"Like?"

"Like, we need to find a place for your parents and the others. Bill and Fleur, the twins..."

"Grimmauld Place?"

"I don't know. It might have to be. It's just..."

Hermione tripped down the stairs behind them, rushing to catch up. Ron caught her.

"What?" she looked up at Harry as she righted herself.

"Ever since we found out about Mundungus... I have a bad feeling about Grimmauld Place."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a concerned look.

"Where else is there, Harry?" Hermione asked softly, aware of people in the next room.

"I don't know. But... well, it will sort itself out. We'll talk later, okay? I need to tell you something, but not now."

"We might have to let someone in on this, you know," Ron said softly.

Harry's eyes strayed to where Arthur had entered the kitchen. He was asking Molly for something.

"Yes... well, we'll worry about that tomorrow, shall we?" Harry proceeded to step into the kitchen and his eyes lit on Ginny.

"You need to relax tonight," Ginny smiled across at him, but she didn't approach. She was always close by, but she never touched him in any way that couldn't be considered accidental or meaningless. Harry had a great urge to take her hand in his.

But he couldn't. What he'd said to her at Dumbledore's funeral was still true. Until Voldemort was dead, anyone he was known to care about would be more of a target than ever. He couldn't lose her, so he had to push her away.

* * *

Remus cornered him directly after dinner and asked him to walk with him. Harry was beginning to understand that these "walks" didn't presage anything good, but followed.

"Harry... some things should have fallen to Sirius, as your godfather. But with both your father and Sirius gone..."

"Moony, I know all about the birds and the bees," Harry said dryly.

"I don't doubt it, Harry," Remus laughed. "Tonks told me that the girls were rather... forthright... this year?"

"Some of them," Harry blushed, thinking about Romalda Vane... and her rather frightening determination.

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about... but if you would like...?"

"No," Harry said hurriedly. "I think I've got that all... under control."

Remus laughed again. "You may think so, Harry. When you want to talk, I'm here. Okay?"

"Okay."

"What I wanted to talk to you about was your inheritance, Harry."

"From Sirius? Grimmauld Place?"

"Amongst... other things, yes."

"What other things?"

"Your family was quite wealthy, Harry. You're now of age. You've come into rather a lot..."

"I've been to my vault, Remus. I know what's there."

"You know what is in _your_ vault, Harry, the vault that belonged to James and Lily. I'm certain you haven't been into the Potter family vault, because you wouldn't have been able to access it before now. I have the key."

With this, Remus took his hand out of his pocket and handed Harry a key with a rather intricately carved head.

"The Potter _family_ vault?"

"As you're the last of the Potters, that is now yours, as well. And I've taken the liberty of having the contents of Sirius' vault moved to your personal vault, as well. The Black family vault, which Sirius left to you, is still in question. Bellatrix is contesting things. However, there is no question about Grimmauld Place... it is yours. As is Potter Manor."

"Potter... what?"

"Potter Manor, Harry. Your family estate... which includes most of the townsite of Godric's Hollow."

* * *

_Okay, typical of my stories, Potter Manor will play a role. I suppose this is because I'm "bothered" by JKR's lack of detail about Harry's home and ancestors. I think that Godric's Hollow definitely has some bearing in the final book, and it bugs me that we have no knowledge of Harry's ancestral home. After all, would he not have inherited **something** in terms of property, even if it is only a plot of land?_

_Anyhow – on with the important bit... my thanks to my amazing reviewers. Thanks everyone!_

_**HarryandGinny4eva:** I've checked them out... I'll probably start posting over there soon._

_**FienX:** I rather thought so, too... but I'm dismissing it as "build up" to 7!_

_**Shotgunn:** I'll be having you "britpick" for me, my dear..._

_**wsantelm:** Ginny is able to do more than Harry was in Privet Drive because the Ministry is aware of magic being used in and around the Burrow. Harry's restrictions were strongly enforced because there was no expectation of anyone doing magic in front of the muggles at that address. Magic being done at the Burrow or in other "magical" places would draw less attention._

_**Adj:** The others already learned... they were given lessons at Hogwarts during their sixth year (HBP)._

_**PCB:** No, her bedroom window overlooks where they were sitting outside, and she could hear them through it._

_**LarnaMandrea:** Glad to see you back here... I've missed you!_

_**Kordolin:** As much as I would like to give you another 20 chapters by... say, tomorrow... I do have a life, LOL!_

_**Teazer:** Hmmm... that easily? I think Harry's rather more obstinate that that, actually. We'll see._

_**And to everyone else who reviewed, thank you:** RyougaZell, harryginnyluv4ever, xxxMyMistakexxx, Sunflower3623, highbrass, kazziedal, Lacyl, AlliBaby, hpz26, Manatheron, demosthenes03, OldCrow, nymphondratonks, Courtney, hpgirl7777, Lady Arwen, KaleenaMason, KaiserMonkey, HeatherGranger13, notwritten, SillyEnglishKnight, VolleyPickle16, Tomanak, FroBoy, Wolfy16, Bulldozer, DarkLadyEvans, Gerie, GiGiFanfic, azntgr01, BrittSchrick, FancyEyes, QuillPixie, Catherine, QueenTigress_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Preparations

Harry held the key in his hand for the remainder of the evening, contemplating what it could mean. He owned a house. A house that no one knew about. A safe place.

He wondered what that meant. Did it mean that he and the others had a place to go that would be a start? Or did it mean he had a place to send the Weasleys... and Remus and Tonks, should they want, to be safe when they left?

Harry knew the answer to that before it was fully formed in his mind. He'd never been there. He couldn't go there. It was the safe place, and it would be better if no one knew he even knew of it.

The vaults at Gringotts were another matter. And he knew that he had to have a short discussion with Griphook. He had to know where he stood with the goblins.

* * *

The following morning, Ron planned to leave with his father for the Ministry. Arthur was obviously proud that Ron was willing to retake his test, and Molly fluttered about, worried once more when Harry and the girls had informed them at breakfast that they were going into Diagon Alley for an hour or two, and Ron was going to meet them there after his test.

"It's just not _safe_!" Molly insisted. "I know I can't stop you, Harry, Hermione... but Ginny, you'd best stay here with me."

"Mum!" Ginny turned on her mother, her temper flaring, but at that moment, caught Harry's look. She'd reacted again... exactly the way he'd told her she needed to restrain. She immediately closed her mouth and sat down at the table.

"Mrs Weasley... Ginny will be with me. I wouldn't ever let anything happen to her."

"Diagon Alley is _not safe_, Harry! Get that through you..."

"Molly, I'm sure that Ginny will be safe with Harry. He'd never let anything happen to her. I have full faith in her ability to... get out of there... should she need to."

Ginny looked at her father suspiciously. Something told them all that he wasn't as ignorant of Ginny's ability to apparate as they thought he was.

"I'll be fine, Mum," Ginny said in a much calmer voice. "Harry will take care of me."

Molly wavered, then threw her hands up in the air. "Fine. Be back by lunchtime or I _will_ come looking for you!"

The three of them flooed out to the twins shop half an hour after Ron left with Arthur. They waited there until Ron arrived, happily clutching a bright yellow long-distance apparation licence in his left hand.

"I did it! First time!"

"I knew you could, Ron," Hermione hugged him and he flushed further.

"Ready, then?" Harry asked, nodding to the door. It was barely nine o'clock. With luck, the Alley would still be reasonably deserted.

The arrived at Gringotts without incident, and the four were escorted down to Harry's vault immediately. They entered, and Harry gave his orders quickly.

"Check every box and crate for anything that might be useful," Harry said. "Quickly. We have the family vault to do yet, as well, and I don't know how big it is."

The rummaged through boxes of things that had been left by James and Lily, the few things that had been salvaged from their small house at Godric's Hollow after the attack, and a few things that they'd stored here.

"Harry?" Ginny called out. "You might want to see this."

Harry moved over to her and saw that she was looking at what appeared to be a carved oak box.

"What is it?"

"A jewellery box," Ginny said. "I think it was your mothers."

When the box was opened, it emitted a soft magical tune. Harry smiled.

Harry reached forward and took out a golden chain. There was a tiny golden snitch hanging from it. As Harry examined it, it fluttered it's tiny wings, and then stilled. He laughed at the look on Ginny's face, then undid the clasp and put it about her neck. She looked up at his with surprised eyes.

"It's just a necklace, Gin. My dad probably gave it to my mother... if you like it, you should have it."

"But..."

"No buts," Harry shook his head. "It's pretty on you."

"Harry... I can't take jewellery from you," Ginny reached up to the clasp, avoiding making eye contact.

Harry couldn't help it... he wanted her to have it. The tiny, fluttering snitch had settled in the valley between her breasts, and it...

Well, it was all he _could _give her.

"Here... if it makes you feel better," Harry reached into the jewellery case. "Don't you think these would suit Hermione?"

Ginny stilled, her hands falling away from the clasp, and eyed the blue droplet earrings that Harry held up.

"Harry, I think those are real sapphires..."

"Hermione?" Harry strode over to her, and held up the earrings. "Little present for you..."

"Harry?" She looked at them, then at him, her eyes wide with surprise.

"They suit you. They remind me of the dress you wore to the Yule Ball..."

Hermione looked at him oddly, looked at the earrings again, then glanced at Ginny. "Harry..."

"Please, Hermione?" he took her hand and dropped them into her open palm. "I'd like you to have them."

After looking at him strangely again, Hermione smiled, reached up and kissed his cheek lightly, and then pulled away, her eyes sparkling. "They're lovely. Thank you."

"Don't... don't mention it," Harry said, backing away and glancing at Ginny before he turned again towards a pile of boxes.

"Harry, all I'm finding are a bunch of blankets and old papers," Ron called out. "I don't think that there is anything in here that we can use."

"You're quite wrong, Ron," Hermione said, lifting the pile of blankets. "These are ever-warm quilts. We can certainly use them. And look, they have a built in shrinking charm..."

With a flick of her wrist, the pile of blankets became a pile of what appeared to be handkerchiefs, and Hermione stowed them in her rucksack.

Ron shook his head and turned away.

Harry looked back to the jewellery case. "We'll take this. I want to look through it later."

"Done in here, then?" Ron asked.

"Yes... let's go check out the other."

When their goblin guide brought them to the Potter family vault, Harry turned to him and asked, "Could you come back for us in an hour?"

"Certainly," he nodded and disappeared.

Harry entered the vault with the others behind him, and heard Ron gasp. This vault was certainly bigger than the other. There were no piles of gold... there were chests of it, neatly arranged in row upon row. A few galleons littered the floor where they'd fallen when an impatient hand had been filling a pouch, and a few of the trunks stood open, revealing their bounty.

It was very apparent very quickly that Harry was a very wealthy wizard.

Beyond the trunks of gold, there were crates and cabinets and shelving. It was all neatly arranged, and Harry sighed with relief. They would never have gotten through this all if it hadn't been.

"Okay... same as before. Let's have a look."

They started looking through things, Harry realized that one entire row held paintings and sighed. How big was the house at Godric's Hollow?

"Harry! That's a Rembrandt!" Hermione gasped as he moved a painting aside to get a box behind it.

"Oh?"

"Harry!" She looked at him, scandalized at his blasé attitude over the priceless painting.

"It doesn't do me any good right now, Hermione... maybe never," he pointed out. "Come on, we've only got so much time."

In the end, they found several things of use. Ginny gleefully snatched up a set of three EverFull canteens, Hermione found a wizarding tent that looked like a pup-tent but which she was quite sure would expand inside once set up, and Ron brought out a set of navigation instruments he'd found, stored neatly wrapped in soft velvet in a wooden box.

"These could come in handy," he said.

"Excellent," Harry looked around. So much wealth. Would it ever do him any good? "I think we're just about done here."

With that, he scooped up a bag he'd filled with galleons and headed for the small pile they'd made by the door.

"Harry... you need more gold?"

"A few things we need to buy in the Alley, and I didn't bring any with me," Harry explained. "Come on, I have to talk to Griphook before we leave."

They stowed the things they'd decided to take with them in their rucksacks and exited the vault to find their driver had returned and was waiting for them. Silently, they situated themselves in the trolley and headed back for the main offices.

Griphook seemed almost happy to see Harry. For a goblin, anyhow.

"Anything else, Mr Potter?"

"Yes. I need to talk to you about... a couple of things. Is there an office...?"

"This way."

Griphook led them into an office beyond the cashiers desks and indicated that they should sit.

"Griphook, I'm going to be quite frank with you, and I hope that I can rely on your... discretion."

"We goblins treasure our reputations in matters of discretion, Mr Potter."

"I am about to embark on something that is going to piss off a lot of people, Griphook."

"We have been aware for some time of your... destiny," Griphook nodded. Ron and Ginny exchanged looks, but Harry's eyes didn't move from the goblin.

"The Ministry is probably going to want to freeze my assets."

"They can try," the goblin said with a very, very unconvincing smile.

"Can they succeed?"

"They would have to know about said assets to freeze them, don't you think, Mr Potter?"

"You mean that they don't?"

"Certain of our more established families," Griphook paused. "Have put certain safeties in place, shall we say? The Potter family vault is such a one."

"So if I were to write a banknote..."

"It would always be honored, Mr Potter, although I cannot vouch for the safety of your _personal_ vault. The Ministry is well aware of it's existence."

"Are they aware of the contents?"

"I would doubt it. Only you and those you have told are. They have no way of tracking what is... removed... from such a vault."

"I see," Harry smiled. "How difficult would it be to have everything moved... well, everything but say, ten or twelve hundred galleons... into the Potter family vault?"

Griphook grimaced quite happily, scribbled something on a piece of parchment before him and snapped his fingers, and nodded. "It will be done within the hour."

"And if I were to write a banknote to say, Messrs Fred and George Weasley, it would be honored, without the knowledge of the Ministry?"

"Most certainly. Any banknote written by you would always be honored, so long as you are a member of the Potter family. Or by any who are," Griphook's eyes strayed briefly to Ginny, then back again.

"Very good," Harry nodded. "Now... one more thing..."

* * *

"I can't believe that you did that," Ron muttered as the approached the twin's shop later that morning after making the few stops that Harry insisted on.

"Well, I'd have left it to you, Ron, but you're going to be with me, so..." Harry laughed.

"So chances are I'll snuff it with you? Great. Thanks for that little ray of sunshine, Harry."

"Ron, besides the three of you, I trust Fred and George beyond anyone."

"More fool you," Ginny smiled. "Trust is not something I would ever associate with the twins!"

"Well, when it comes to the important stuff, I know they wouldn't let me down," Harry said. "They'll take care of your mum and dad... and the others. They'll do what they'd know I want... and they'd _know_ what I wanted."

"I still can't believe you left them everything," Ron shook his head as they entered the shop to find Fred standing on the countertop, a rubber chicken hanging from his hand as George, naked except for the neon pink bike helmet he wore, but mercifully shielded from view by the counter itself, jumped up trying to grab it.

They both turned at the stunned silence of the four who entered.

"What?" Fred said.

"I do not want to know," Hermione muttered, turning away, her hands over her face.

"George, put on your bloody clothes!" Ron said.

Harry tried not to laugh. Ginny didn't even bother trying. "What if we had been customers?"

"You mean you're not?" George asked, pulling on his pants behind the counter. "Then get out, would you? We have work to do."

"Watch the store?" Harry asked the others as he indicated to the twins to follow him.

"You'd bloody think he was a partner or something, wouldn't you?" Fred complained as they followed. George hopped on one leg as he stuffed his foot in one of his dragonhide boots.

"You'd think."

Harry ignored them until they were in the back room.

"Silencing charms?" he requested. Fred looked oddly at him as George muttered the incantation and flicked his wand.

"What is it, Harry?" Fred was immediately sober.

"I need to talk to you two about something, and no one... and I mean _no one_ is to know. Got it?"

"Of course."

"In the next few days, something is going to happen..."

"Voldemort?" George asked, suddenly tense.

"No. Not yet," Harry ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Look, you two know what I've got to do. You're members of the Order... they've obviously told you..."

"We know, Harry," George was abnormally serious. "What's going on?"

"In the next few days, I'm leaving," Harry said, staring hard at the two of them.

"We figured you wouldn't be hanging about for long," George admitted.

"Surprised you've stayed this long, actually."

"I wanted to be of age. This way, the Ministry has less to complain about."

"Good plan. So what's wrong?"

"I'm not going alone," Harry said meaningfully.

"Ron?" Fred asked. "Should have seen it."

"Hermione, too, I would think," George nodded. They both looked at Harry as he continued to look at them, silent.

"Ginny, too?" they asked in unison.

"Yes."

"We ought to blacken an eye... or something..." Fred smiled.

"Just on principle, you understand," George finished for him.

"But we won't."

"Can't say we're surprised, actually."

"Nope."

Harry continued to look at them.

"There's more?" Fred sounded surprised.

"Look, Harry, if you've knocked her up, we'd really rather not know," George said, running his own hand through his hair. Harry thought he'd never really seen the twin this out of sorts before.

"Hardly," Harry said, flushing wildly. "I've just been to Gringotts."

"And?"

"You're broke and need a loan?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "I'm not broke. As a matter of fact..." he pulled the banknote he'd prepared in Griphook's office and handed it to George.

"Holy mother of Merlin...!" George looked at it.

"The minute you hear that I... that _we're_ gone... you take that to Gringotts and cash it. Do you understand?"

"Harry?"

"Then, you close up the shop, and get yourselves home to the Burrow. Take everyone and apparate to Potter Manor..."

"What?"

"Where?"

"Just listen," Harry drew his wand. "I have to do this right... and I'm probably going to... well, if anyone asks, you don't know _who_ was doing magic back here, right?"

With that, he touched his wand to Fred's forehead and muttered, "_Fidelius."_

"Harry..."

"You're the secret keeper now, Fred. But no one knows that. If anyone figures it out that far, they won't get any further. As far as anyone knows, it could be either of you. Got it?"

Fred and George looked at each other, then back to Harry. Suddenly, there were no more questions, their joking demeanor was gone. They knew.

"We understand, Harry," Fred said softly.

"One more thing," Harry said. "If we don't come back, I've left it all to you. Take care of them... all of them. Remus and Tonks, as well. And if Ginny comes back without me..."

"Got it, Harry," Fred said quietly.

"Got it," echoed George.

* * *

_Ah, the plot begins to thicken... rather like thin yoghurt right now... another chapter and we should be into gravy!_

_**Kazziedal:** I think that the argument between Dumbledore and Snape was precisely that... and perhaps a bit of Snape's vow to Narcissa thrown in for good measure. I **don't** think that Dumbledore had planned on that._

_**BrittSchrick:** Ah, see? Now that's what I need: concrit! Thanks for pointing that out!_

_**OldCrow:** Will do!_

_**Bean3769:** Thanks! _

_**TnaSeeIn:** You noticed that, too, huh? It actually had me doing a "WTF?", because it seemed rather contrived... I don't know. I'm sure it will all become clear in Book 7. Wait, isn't that what we said about Book 6? Doh!_

_**Shotgunn:** "Good guy way down deep"? Uh, no... I don't think so. I don't REALLY believe in a redeemable Snape in canon. I just don't think that JKR is going that way. At best, I might be convinced that Snape doesn't feel he owes allegience to either side, and is only interested in saving his own skin... and even, perhaps, feeling the life-debt owed to James makes it necessary for him to "protect" Harry. But I seriously doubt that, by any stretch of the imagination, Snape could ever be considered "really a good guy". Well, it would take copious amounts of "liquid convincing", at any rate..._

_**RyougaZell:** You think? Hmmm..._

_**LadyIlana:** Mmmm... Montreal. I have fond memories of Montreal. Best bagels in the world, offset by the absolute WORST drivers on earth. Ah, but the coffee..._

_**LarnaMandrea:** I admit to a certain fondness for this version of Arthur, myself! Hope you like him in THIS chapter..._

_**AlliBaby:** Magic, of course! Actually, I'm pretty sure it would involve ancient blood-spells, and the lot. Bellatrix may have made it clear, without tipping the Ministry off, that the Black line did NOT end with Sirius. It wouldn't even have had to be her, directly – just someone pointing out that Bellatrix Lestrange was the eldest of the three remaining Black family members, and Narcissa making noises about her eldest sister being more deserving._

_**Adj:** Because she's an extraordinary witch. She would have to be, don't you think? With six older brothers, two of whom are Fred and George? I would imagine that Ginny has developed a "sneaky" streak a mile and a half wide. Not to mention the "up close and personal" time she spent with Tom Riddle in her first year... some of his talents must have rubbed off. If none of that sounds plausible, blame it on the muse. She's ticked at me because I haven't bought wasabi peas in four months._

_**SubStandardAuthor:** The link didn't come through. cuts them. Can you email it to me?_

_**ZephyraOfTheButterflies:** I love your penname! _

_**Harryginnyluv4ever:** Paris is a beautiful city – but I prefer the UK, actually. London isn't my favorite, either, although it's a very interesting place... great place to people-watch! I adore York, and ALL of Wales is beautiful. Bath would be gorgeous if it didn't have so very MANY tourists. If you go, enjoy your trip – spring is the time to go!_

_**And the rest, thanks: **Jouve25, VolleyPickle16, Nightwing509, Kordolin, Gerie, xxxMyMistakexxx, IndiaInk, Kaleena Mason, JainaSanri, LuthienGranger2004, highbrass, AliceLLongbottom, David305, hpgwrwhg4ever, azntgr01, dweem-angel, meg , Lacyl, YelloWitchGrl _


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Leaving

When they arrived back at the Burrow they checked in with a relieved Molly and proceeded directly up to Harry's room. Molly was in and out of Ron's room and the room that Ginny was sharing with Hermione regularly throughout the day, but for some reason seldom ventured into Harry's. They emptied their packs onto the bed and floor after Hermione set up the privacy charms, and began to go through it all.

"I still can't believe it," Ginny stroked the shaft of her new broom. It was a Firebolt 2000, and the best broom that Quality Quidditch Supplies had had in stock. Harry had bought three of them. The very happy storekeeper had thrown in flying gloves, goggles and broom servicing kits free of charge.

Hermione folded up a set of all-weather robes and clucked. "I still say we could have made do with the Moonbeams..."

Ron snorted, then flushed as Hermione shot him a look. As she looked away, he coughed, but to Harry his cough sounded suspiciously like 'chick broom'. Harry stifled a laugh.

Sorting out their things, they repacked their rucksacks with their new robes and bedding, and the few things they'd collected to take with them. Ginny had a list she was going over, and she sighed, satisfied, as she came to the end of it.

"We only have to pack some food and things at the last minute, Harry... and anything personal we want to take along."

"Keep it minimal," Harry said.

"I'm going to need to take parchment and quills..." Hermione said, inspecting her pile. "And my copy of _Hogwarts: a History_..."

"Hermione," Harry turned to her. "Keep it minimal. We can't carry a library with us."

Hermione sighed. "I know."

"Harry, we really ought to take a good medical charm book, though," Ginny said.

"We should have gotten that in Diagon Alley today," Harry sat down on his bed. "What else?"

"No... just that. Mum's got one, though. I can nick it before we leave..."

"Harry? When are we going?"

Harry looked up at Ron, then the others. "This is stupid. I'm putting it off, aren't I?"

No one said anything.

"Tomorrow... tomorrow we'll go. Early. So that we can be well gone before..."

"But... where are we going? Where do we start?" Hermione asked.

"Where it started for him."

"Where is that?"

"London. The orphanage where he grew up."

* * *

That afternoon, after lunch, they took Hermione's rucksack with the tent in it out to the forest beyond the orchard and found a sheltered clearing to set it up. Harry wanted to make sure before they carried it with them that it was what they needed. They made quick work of the tent stakes and Ginny was the first to enter, crawling through what appeared to be a low, small flap into what looked, from the outside, to be a two-person pup-tent. 

"Oh," they heard her as she crawled in. "Oh, Harry, this just isn't going to do..."

"Why? What's wrong?" Harry asked, watching as Hermione's backside disappeared into the tent. He could hear her laughing.

Ron and Harry followed, to find the girls standing in the middle of a rather large room.

"Something you want to tell us about your ancestors, Harry?" Ron laughed.

The place was decorated like a bordello. Harry's eyebrows rose as he noticed the bar along the far side, the staircase heading up and the doors along the hallway, visible from the floor below. There were several small tables, and a large, tacky chandelier hanging in the middle.

"Wow," Harry looked around, quite amazed. "You think it might be one of the Marauder's pranks gone bad?"

"All we need is some dancehall girls..." Ron muttered. Hermione clipped him with the back of her hand. "Ouch."

"This is nothing, we can take care of this," and with that, she took out her wand and began redecorating. With moments, the rather overblown room was sporting clean hardwood floors, sleek Scandinavian styled furniture and bright white walls. The bar, much to Ron's dismay, was replaced with a long, low table, and the small tables and chairs with couches and chairs. There was a fireplace already there, but Hermione enlarged it and added a colorful modern painting above it to replace the rather dated mirror. The chandelier disappeared, to be replaced by much cleaner track lighting.

Through a doorway, Hermine attacked the rather well-worn kitchen, and soon had a tidy area ready for them to prepare their meals. Harry was stunned, once more, by the innovation of the wizarding world in such a way.

"Now... upstairs."

"Do we dare?" Ginny asked, eyeing the doors above suspiciously. "Given the rest of it, what are we going to find up _there_?"

"Come _on_," Hermione tugged her along. Ron and Harry followed.

Within an hour, they had a clean, livable area that, on the outside, wouldn't take up much more room than a six by eight foot piece of ground. The part that impressed them the most was the fact that what appeared to be a tent flap on the outside was actually a very sturdy wooden door. Hermione nodded her approval when she was done.

"Good," she said. "Now, let's pack up and get this put away. I have some letters to write tonight."

In the end, they all spent some time that evening writing letters. Harry, especially, felt he had some things to say, some explanations to make, that he couldn't make clear any other way. He wrote to Remus, and to Professor McGonagall, and then a very long letter to Mr and Mrs Weasley. After he was done with that, he wrote two short notes, one to Neville and the other to Luna, and rolled them up. He labelled each and left them sitting on his desk. Molly would see to it that they were all delivered, he knew.

A little after eight, Harry headed downstairs for a drink, and found Arthur sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a mug of tea.

"Hello, Harry."

"Mr Weasley," Harry took a bottle of butterbeer from the cupboard and looked at it for a moment before casting a quick chilling charm. He sat down at the table across from Ron and Ginny's dad and took a drink.

"You have something to say, Harry?" Mr Weasley looked at him, his eyes calm.

"I..."

"Don't think of me as Ginny and Ron's father, Harry... right now, you have to think of me as the head of the Order."

Harry met his eyes.

"Tomorrow," Harry said softly.

"I rather thought so. You were all so quiet at dinner. Ginny kept looking at her mother..."

"I'm sorry, Mr Weasley. I have to... and you know that the others won't let me go alone."

"I'm very aware of that, Harry. I would suspect that you've even considered leaving rather earlier than they expect...?"

Harry looked up at him, surprised at his intuition.

"Don't, Harry," Arthur said gravely. "They'd only follow you."

"I did think of that, but I knew that Ron wouldn't..."

"I know. Is there anything I should know? Anything you _can_ tell me?"

"Fred and George are safe," Harry glanced around, then met Mr Weasley's blue eyes. "They have... what they need to make you safe, as well. They know what needs to be done, and will... well, they'll do it as soon as they hear that we're gone."

"You know that as soon as it's known that you've disappeared..."

"Fred and George have... they'll arrive shortly after they find out. Make sure they find out quickly. And please, do exactly as they say. They're... well, arrangements have been made to keep you all safe. Safer, anyhow."

"I understand. Molly... and Fleur..."

"All of you."

"I have a job to do, Harry."

"And you'll be able to do it. Just get out of the Burrow."

"Headquarters?" Arthur looked at him, curious.

"Fred and George will take you where you need to go. Just do as they say, and make Mrs Weasley go. She'll think she needs to stay in case we change our minds and come back. We won't."

"I know."

"There will be letters..."

"Oh?"

"I've left a few on my desk. I'm sure that the others are going to, as well. Can you see that they're delivered?"

"Yes."

"I'll try to keep them safe," Harry finished his butterbeer and stood, placing the empty bottle on the countertop and moving towards the door.

"I know."

"I'm sorry, Mr Weasley."

"I'm not, Harry. I knew it would come to this. Ginny and Ron are well prepared."

* * *

Harry awoke before dawn the following morning. He packed everything he wasn't taking with him in his trunk and put a note on it asking Mr Weasley to take it with them. He was quite certain that not much would remain of the Burrow in a very short time. He released Hedwig from her cage and stroked her feathers. 

"We're leaving, girl, but you've got to fly. Stay nearby and come to me when I get outside."

Hedwig hooted with understanding, then flew out through the window. Harry knew she wouldn't go far. Taking up his rucksack, he made sure that his letters were in plain sight on the desk, and closed the door behind him. It was time to leave.

Heading quietly down the stairs, he was startled when the girls' door opened and Ginny and Hermione slipped out silently. Ron slid down the stairs from his room on the floor above as they congregated there. Without speaking, Harry led the way down the stairs, avoiding the squeaky third step, and through to the kitchen.

To be confronted by Arthur and Bill sitting at the kitchen table. Harry stopped dead.

"Good morning," Arthur spoke quietly, although Harry was very aware of the silencing charm on the room.

"Mr Weasley, Bill."

"Relax, Harry," Bill smiled. "I know what's going on. I'm not going to try to stop you."

"But..."

Bill shook his head and stood, pulling Ginny into his arms. "Bye, Smidge. You be careful."

Ginny looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Bill."

"I've packed up a sack of things..." Arthur said quietly, indicating the bag on the counter. "Some of your mother's biscuits... and such. I thought it would save you time today, you won't have to stop for... well."

"Thanks," Harry nodded. "We need to go."

They each said their goodbyes, but it wasn't until Harry shook Bill's hand that their eyes met.

"You take care of her, Harry. Understand?"

"I'll do my best."

Bill nodded shortly, shortly enough that Harry could tell that he really didn't approve of this particular plan... or maybe didn't approve of the fact that he wasn't going along with them. Unfortunately, Bill's fighting days were probably over for the time being. He still had a long time to go before he was fully recovered.

They made surprisingly quick work of leaving. Ginny grabbed the sack of food that Mr Weasley had put together for them, and her mother's book of healing spells off the shelf above the sink, avoiding her father's eyes as she did. Arthur watched her the entire time. They left by the kitchen door and headed out past the front and down the driveway. Hedwig soared over them and then came to rest on Harry's outstretched arm. Pig fluttered over Ron before perching on his head. Ron grabbed the tiny owl and clutched him firmly. Hermione glanced back at the house.

"Mum'll take care of Crookshanks, Hermione," Ginny said softly. "He'll be fine."

"I know. I'll miss him, though," Hermione replied, tears in her brown eyes.

"He'll be here when we get back," Harry said. Hermione met his eyes, reading his silent message. _And if we don't come back, he'll be better off than if he were with us._

Without another word, Ron took Hermione's hand and they apparated away to the spot they'd agreed on in London. Harry held out his hand for Ginny and she smiled sadly as she took it.

"Time to go," Harry said softly. She nodded, taking one look back over her shoulder to look at the Burrow, it's crooked additions and oddly shaped windows, before turning back to him and looking directly into his bright green eyes, her resolve clear.

And then they were gone.

* * *

_My lovely reviewers, now we get to it --_

_CQ_

_**YelloWitchGrl:** My thoughts exactly. And, HEY! You're not supposed to strain your eyes with those drops in them!_

_**Trixie7:** At this point, I don't think he's thinking that far ahead._

_**Shotgunn:** Yes, but are his MOTIVES pure, or self-centred? _

_**IndiaInk:** I see Gred and Forge playing a more important role in future canon... don't know why. I think because everyone dismisses them so easily – it's like they're flying under the radar._

_**Kazziedal: ** You read my mind. I've also got some ideas about the Weasley family..._

_**LarnaMandrea:** I'm actually playng around with an idea that I had to bring the Weasley family to the fore... it's still percolating, but I'm messing about with it for after this one..._

_**SubStandardAuthor:** I'll check it out, thanks!_

_**Kordolin:** You might want to start monitoring your caffeine intake..._

_**TnaSeeIN:** Thank you! Harry is most definitely reactionary when it comes to his feelings about Ginny. I think he will find it difficult in canon to come to terms with this, as well._

_**Critique:** Only that horrible half-gelatin garbage you get with the fruit already mixed in. The REAL stuff isn't like that... really._

_**NightmareAlley:** Really? Mundungus? I haven't heard that one yet – but it certainly makes sense! As for the title, it comes from the true meaning of the word, not the band! _

_**TedMHammett:** Harry can be rather obstinate at times. He's got it in his head that he's a danger to Ginny, but sometimes simply can't help himself. _

_**Doffy99:** Ah, yes... Arnold... I do tend to overlook things, don't I? LOL!_

_**RyougaZell:** I'm working under the assumption that James and Lily were NOT in the main house when they were attacked. JKR has said, in being questioned on exactly what Godric's Hollow is, that it is a village – I'm working under the assumption that the main house... the manor house, is still there, but that James and Lily's "safe house" that they went to in hiding wasn't this house... was a house in the village nearby. Ginny couldn't take the jewellery because it was too intimate – Harry can't have it both ways. _

_**And the rest – you guys are GREAT:** BrittSchrick, DracosWifeLover, MarinePotterFan, highbrass, CharminglyHolly, HarryandGinny4eva, AlliBaby, joeyandpaceyforever, NotAWriterYet, Allimba, Andy-May, Honorable, Nandhp, Realist, harryginnyluv4ever, 2InsanitiesInl, krissygurl, life2me, meg, tomanak, articulatedgiraffe, BellonaBellatrix, kaiserzacc, Manatheron, Aimee, SparkleTangerine, Lacy1_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: London

The dirty alleyway down the street from the Leaky Cauldron was the only place that all four of them knew in London that was reasonably private. Harry figured a stray obliviate spell would take care of anyone lounging in the alley who shouldn't be, but he didn't mention this to Hermione, knowing full well what her reaction would probably be.

Luckily, the alley was empty. Ron and Hermione were already there when Harry and Ginny apparated in, and Ron was obviously itching to get going.

They made their way out of the alley and walked along, as they had agreed, hand in hand. To anyone looking, they were simply two couples backpacking through London. Harry had gone so far as to transfigure Canadian flag emblems which Ginny had applied to their rucksacks with sticking charms. Ginny's hair was up under her floppy Australian backcountry hat, and Hermione had tamed her hair into a french plait and was wearing dark sunglasses. Ron had a camera hanging from a strap around his neck which was actually their navigation equipment. Hermione had transfigured it to make them blend in better. Harry wore a baseball cap over his messy black hair and had applied a sunshade charm to his glasses. Anyone looking would probably not recognize them unless they knew them.

"Where next?"

"We need a map... a couple of maps, actually. One of London, and one of the whole of the UK. As a matter of fact, a detailed mapbook of Europe might not be a bad idea," Harry said as quietly as he could so they would all hear. He didn't fancy being overheard in this part of London. They were still far too close to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Would they sell them there?" Ginny pointed across the road to a shop that appeared to sell souvenirs. Unfortunately, it was closed.

"It probably would," Harry said. "But they won't be open for hours yet. We need to lose ourselves in London for a few hours. If anyone is looking for us, they'll look around here. We're too close to Diagon Alley."

"How about this?" Ron said, pointing to a transit map on the side of a pole beside wide steps going down.

"Harry, we're supposed to be tourists, let's act like it," Hermione muttered. "What would we be doing if we really were?"

"Getting breakfast," Harry said, smiling. "And then seeing the sights. Let's make our way over to Trafalgar Square and go from there, shall we?"

They found their way to Trafalgar Square, gazed up at Nelson's Column and sat on the side of the large fountain while they opened the packet of food Arthur had prepared for them.

"Rather more than Mum's biscuits," Ginny muttered.

Apparently Arthur had been up for some time, if he'd even gone to bed at all. There were several egg sandwiches and four bottles of butterbeer, which Harry hurriedly stuffed into his rucksack. All they needed was for some witch or wizard to notice what they were drinking... or some muggle to ask where it might be purchased.

After eating the sandwiches, they divided the remaining biscuits and fruit amongst themselves and headed off towards the tourist shops lining the streets in the direction of Buckingham Palace. Ron had suggested walking down Whitehall, but Harry, for some reason, wanted to stay as far away from Downing Street as possible.

By the time they reached the roundabout in front of the palace, the shops were beginning to open, and Harry and Hermione ducked quickly into one to buy a map book, leaving Ron and Ginny lounging in the early morning sunshine outside..

"Canadians, hmm?" the shopkeeper, a portly man in his fifties grinned at them, eyeing the Canadian flag emblems on their packs. "Honeymoon? You seem rather young."

Harry nearly panicked. The shopkeeper was expecting them to respond. What would happen when he spoke, with a British accent?

"No... not our honeymoon," Hermione grinned. Harry was shocked. She was speaking with a perfect Canadian accent. Or as perfect as he could tell, in any case. "Just friends... four of us spending our gap year travelling."

"Well, have a good time!" The shopkeeper smiled back, and they exited the shop.

"How on earth...?"

"I used to watch a lot of television," Hermione commented.

"You never cease to amaze me," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Glad to hear it," Hermione smirked, taking Ron's hand again as they walked down the street.

Harry knew the area where the orphanage was located. He knew the street, because the street sign showing the cross streets had been part of the memory that Dumbledore had shared with him. He could see it in his mind, and it was merely a matter of finding the cross streets on the map and heading in that direction. Unfortunately, the children's home proved to be at the other end of London.

"We'll have to take the tube," Hermione said.

Ron looked rather green at this. "Couldn't we just... walk?"

"To Hounslow? Are you insane? We might get there by tomorrow, if our feet don't fall off first, and if we aren't mugged."

"Mugged?" Ginny screwed up her nose and looked at Hermione. "Is that something the muggles do?"

"Yes," Hermione snapped. "Now go on... down to the tube. Ginny, do _not_ let go of Harry. If we get separated, get off at the next stop and Harry or I will find you. If all else fails, go to Hounslow station, get off and sit on a bench. Do _not_ approach a muggle for help!"

With this, Hermione herded them through the station, after slapping Ron's hand as he reached out to touch the ten pound note she paid their fare with, and herded them through the crowd to an empty spot on the platform.

"Why are we just standing here?" Ron asked quietly after a minute.

"We're waiting for the train, Ron," Hermione said under her breath. "Just wait."

A few moments later, the train came flying into the station and Ron got a very eager look on his face.

"Does it go that fast the whole way?"

"Yes," Hermione sighed, pushing him onto the train, and following him.

Luckily it wasn't that full, and the four of them found seats together. They had a rather long ride ahead of them, so they sat back, silently, and waited.

By the time they got to the station in the west end of London, it was nearly ten in the morning. They'd been up since before five, and Ginny had yawned a couple of times, her head bobbing against Harry's shoulder.

"Next stop," Hermione said, standing and heading towards the doors, Ron in tow.

"Ginny," Harry shook her.

"Hmm?"

"Time to wake up, we're nearly there."

In an instant, her eyes were wide and she was sitting straight. "Oh, sorry..."

"It's okay. This is our stop," Harry stood as they pulled into the station and took her hand, pulling her towards the doors.

"Where now?" Ron asked several minutes later as they emptied out of the station onto the street.

"This way," Hermione said, tugging him across the street and to the right.

It turned out to be a five minute walk, and the four stuck close together. Ginny pressed close to Harry's side, and he put an arm around her, watching the passersby suspiciously, few as they were.

"It should be just up here..." Hermione turned up a side street and walked on. Within moments, however, she stopped and looked up.

"Oh."

The children's home was a huge building in relation to it's neighbors. What appeared to have been a private home at some point was now derelict and on the point of falling down. There was a huge "No Trespassing" sign nailed to the gate.

Apparently, the orphanage had been closed down.

"You lot... what do you want?"

Harry turned to see a man wearing denims and a hardhat coming towards them.

"Sorry..." he began.

"My grandfather was raised here," Hermione stepped forward, speaking again in her Canadian accent. "I didn't know it was closed... we just thought we'd see it while we were in London."

The workman caught sight of their rucksacks and looked back at Hermione.

"Where you from?"

"Canada. Toronto," she lied smoothly. Harry and Ron exchanged shocked looks.

"Toronto? I've got a sister moved there..." he eyed them carefully. "The place has been closed for about five years now. City has ordered it demolished. It's due to come down next week. You're lucky you came when you did, or all you'd have seen would be a pile of rubble."

"I don't suppose..." Hermione glanced at the building. "My grandfather told me how to get to his room... I don't suppose it would be possible for us to... go in?"

The man looked carefully at them. "I suppose. I'm here for another hour... but then you've got to be out. I want you to come out to my van there and check in on your way, so's I know you've gone. It's safe enough inside... but don't be moving anything!"

"Thank you!" Hermione gave him her biggest smile, and the man smiled back.

Picking their way over the debris littering the walkway, Harry muttered under his breath. "I would never have thought it, Hermione."

"What?'

"That you could lie with such ease to an authority figure."

"Ah..." Hermione giggled. "I just pretended I was playing a part."

Inside they found a wide front entry with a desk sitting to the side. Ron ran a finger over the dusty surface.

"Don't touch anything, Ron," Hermione whispered. "Anything could be a portkey."

Ron and Harry looked at her, traded a look with Ginny, and then moved further into the building. They all remembered the way to Tom Riddle's room from the memory that Dumbledore had shared with Harry. They made their way silently up the stairs and down the long hallway, through to the door.

"This is it," Harry said.

Opening it, it was almost an anti-climax to find a bare, empty, dirty room. There were tattered curtains hanging at the broken window, and someone had spray-painted graffiti on the wall.

"It's cold," Ginny shivered.

"Can you feel anything, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry stood in the middle of the room, turning. "The wardrobe..."

Hermione turned, and opened the wardrobe door. This was where Dumbledore had found the box of Tom Riddle's souvenirs from his bullying. It, too, was bare.

"Nothing here..." Ron said.

"We should go find an office and see if there are any records or anything left."

"Wait a minute," Harry turned again. Dumbledore had found the box of things in the wardrobe. That had been too easy. Harry himself knew that when hiding things, you put stuff in the most obvious place so that people would find it and stop looking.

At least, it always worked on Dudley.

"What is it?"

"Where would the bed have been?" Harry asked.

"Over there, most likely," Hermione pointed against the wall.

"Ron, give me a hand here..." Harry handed his rucksack to Ginny and moved over to where Hermione pointed. Looking closely at the floorboards, he let out a short laugh and reached out with his fingers, prying one up.

"Harry?"

"Old trick," Harry said. "Loose floorboards under beds make great hiding spots."

Under the floorboard, there appeared to be nothing for a moment, until Harry reached for his wand.

"Harry..." Hermione reached out with a small penlight. "Don't use magic here."

Harry put his wand away, then shone the penlight into the crevice. Sure enough, there was what appeared to be a bundle of rags.

"What is it?"

"Could be nothing," Harry said. "Lots of kids probably stayed in this room after him..."

"Be careful," Hermione said softly as Harry pulled the bundle out and began to unwrap it.

"Why would he have left something here when he left? He didn't expect to come back, did he?"

"He didn't leave this when he left to go to Hogwarts," Harry said. "He left this after... he leaves them in places that mean something to him. He came back, later."

"Them?" Ginny looked at him oddly.

"Yes," Harry said. "The horcruxes."

And with that, he folded back the last bit of fabric to reveal a small golden cup, with an engraving of a badger on it.

"One," said Harry.

* * *

They hurriedly checked in with the foreman and headed off down the street and back towards the tube station. By the time they reached it they were nearly running. Hermione again paid their fares and the next thing they knew, they were on a nearly empty train heading back into the heart of London.

"What do we do with it?" Ron asked.

"We have to destroy it," Ginny said softly. "Like the diary."

"Not right away," Harry said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if we destroy them as we go, he might be able to just keep making more. I'm not sure if he knows when one has been destroyed. Dumbledore thought he might feel... loss... or something like it. Whether he can make more or not, I don't particularly want to tip him off as we go. We have to collect all that are left and destroy them all at the same time."

"But, Harry... what if he... what if we..." Hermione looked horrified.

"What if he captures us and gets them back?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"If he captures Harry, Hermione, the least of our worries is going to be the little bits of his soul littering England," Ron said as quietly as he could.

"It's getting on for noon," Harry said gently. "You know... this is only our first day... I never expected to..."

"Are you sure that it's real, Harry?"

"Sure," Harry said. "I can feel it."

"Feel it?" Ginny looked at him.

"Like I could feel the diary... and the ring. I... I'm drawn to it."

"How?"

"It's hard to explain. It's kind of... magnetic. Really, really faint, but... I don't know how else to explain it."

They were all silent for the rest of the trip, got off the tube at Leicester Square, and found an information booth. Hermione pulled her Canadian accent thing again, and asked after campgrounds. The girl in the booth told them about several hostels, then informed her that to camp out, they'd probably have to go as far as Surrey or Kent.

"Surrey," said Harry. "I know of one just outside Little Whinging... my uncle used to pass it on the way back from picking me up in London."

"But how..."

"Well, we can either take the bus and get there tonight, or we can risk apparating, and if we get separated, meet up there later."

"I don't fancy apparating to somewhere I can't make a proper picture of in my mind," Hermione said. "My luck, someone will end up splinched, and we'll be in trouble."

"Then let's find out how to get there by bus," Harry said.

It turned out that there was a bus that left Heathrow that went through Little Whinging every afternoon. All they needed to do was get to Heathrow by two o'clock, find the bus station, buy their tickets and wait.

"One thing about it, travelling as muggles," Ginny said as Harry hailed a cab. "No one would expect it."

The taxi took them directly to the bus station at Heathrow, and the four climbed out and headed for the ticket agents. Harry bought four tickets to the next stop past Little Whinging, and directed them all to the bus stand they would be boarding at. They had a very short wait.

* * *

The campground was small, and Harry looked around as they walked up to it. They'd passed it on the bus, then hopped off at Little Whinging. The busdriver had told them it wasn't their stop, but Harry had smiled and said that they'd decided to walk the rest of the way. It was only a few miles.

They waited until the bus was gone, then Harry led them through Little Whinging and back the way they had come.

"This is the town you grew up in, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry said shortly.

"Do you want to...?"

"No."

Ginny smirked at Hermione, who shrugged back at her. "Harry, it might be an idea for us to stop at the grocers before we leave the town. You do want to eat tonight, don't you?"

Harry stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at her, searching for any signs of sarcasm. She looked innocently up at him, a smile on her face. Harry let out an exasperated breath, then turned back toward the town.

"This way."

Ginny was later to call it 'commando shopping'. Harry flew through the store, eliciting a few curious looks from the locals. In all, they couldn't have been inside more than seven minutes. Hermione looked impressed.

At the last minute, Ron added three bags of crisps and a bottle of cola. Harry just looked at him.

"I'm a growing boy," Ron grinned.

"So, back are you?" the woman behind the desk looked at him suspiciously. "Thought you'd moved."

"_They_ moved. _I_ didn't," Harry said, paying her quickly and grabbing the carryalls, moving away before the clerk could respond.

Ron held out his hand for the change, and then leaned over the counter. "His aunt is a prissy cow, and his uncle subscribed to naughty magazines meant for women. Harry's the best of the lot."

The now-speechless clerk stared after them as they went.

"What did you say to her?" Hermione asked him as he caught up with them.

"Thank you and have a nice day?" Ron smiled innocently. Hermione's eyes narrowed on him.

"Never trust a smiling Weasley," Ginny said softly. Harry, his mood improving the closer they got to the edge of town, laughed.

Checking into the caravan park proved to be a problem when they didn't have a caravan. Or a car. Hermione did her Canadian thing again, and Harry pulled his baseball cap low over his eyes, but the park manager still eyed him suspiciously.

"'aven't I see you before?"

"Me? Couldn't have," Harry said, shaking his head.

"I don't like giving room to tenters with no vehicle... it ain't right, this hitchhiking business you young folk take such stock in."

"I'm sure you're right," Hermione continued. "But it's getting late, and we really want to just set up our tent and..."

"Tent?" the manager's eyes narrowed. "You mean tents, don't you now?"

"Um," Hermione glanced back at the others. "It's really quite large..."

"One of them multi-room ones?" the manager perked up considerably at this. "Couple of Americans came through last week with one of them... zipped down the middle, it did. What will those Americans think of next, I wonder?"

"Yes... yes, it's a... multi room tent."

Ron stifled a chuckle, only to wince as Hermione brought her foot down hard on the top of his trainer.

"Right then... lot thirty. Best of the lot... faces the river, it does."

"Thank you."

"Twenty five pound," the short, pudgy man held out his hand.

"Twenty five...!" Harry started, only to have Ginny clear her throat meaningfully.

Harry shut up, and even managed to hold it in until they were at the site, had their tent set up and were safely inside.

"Twenty five pounds for a bloody chunk of grass for the night?"

"Harry, we're here... it's safe. We have a place to sleep..." Ginny began pulling groceries out of the carryalls and organizing things for dinner.

"And cook dinner," Ron grinned.

"And no one is going to bother us until morning," Hermione said tiredly. "As far as I'm concerned, that's worth twenty five pounds."

"It's bloody highway robbery," Harry grumbled.

"It may be, but as it's his grass, he can charge whatever he likes for it," Ginny pointed out as she cut chicken into cubes and added it to the pan already heating on the stove.

"What are you making?" Ron asked, sniffing over the pan.

"Chicken curry," Ginny said, eyeing her brother over her shoulder. Ron grimaced. "What?"

"I'm not fond of curry," he said.

"Then tomorrow night, when _you_ cook, you can make whatever you bloody like. Tonight, I'm cooking, so I'm making chicken curry!"

"Well, can we at least have chips?"

"You can have chips," Ginny said, more calmly.

"We need to talk about what we're going to do next," Hermione said. "I can't believe our luck, finding one of the horcruxes on our first day..."

"I had an idea that there might be something there," Harry admitted.

"How?"

"It was a place where Tom Riddle spent a lot of time... a lot of painful memories. He hides these things in places that mean a lot to him. The ring in his mother's childhood home, the diary left with Lucius, with the instructions to get it into Hogwarts, now the cup in the orphanage."

"Harry, you said that someone has to die to make a horcrux, right?" Ginny asked.

"Taking a life is one component of the spell, yes."

"So, what other lives has he taken?" Ginny asked as she quickly prepared potatoes to make the chips Ron had requested.

"Myrtle..." said Ron.

"Myrtle doesn't count," Hermione pointed out.

"I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear you say that, Hermione," Ron drawled.

"No... I mean, he didn't really kill her."

"He let the bloody basilisk out..."

"No, Hermione's right," Harry said, grabbing one of the bottles of butterbeer that Arthur had included and casting a quick chilling charm. Ginny handed him a second bottle and he cast the second charm without thinking, uncorking the bottle and handing it back to her without even looking up. He totally missed the look exchanged between Ron and Hermione. "He has to commit the murder directly."

"So... who else?"

"I'm not sure that we're approaching this in the right way," Harry said.

"Why?"

"We need to follow his movements. I think it's more important where he's been than who we know he's killed. He could easily have killed any number of muggles, and we would never know."

"Any number? You're sure there are only seven of these things?" Ron asked, paling.

"Dumbledore assured me that the number seven had an important meaning to Tom Riddle, and that splitting his soul any further would be nearly impossible."

"Okay," Ginny said, leaning against the countertop. "So we visited Hounslow today, scene of his life before magic. Where did he go next?"

"Hogwarts," Ron said.

"And then?"

"Borgin and Burkes... he went out to client homes and bought things..."

"You don't think...?"

"He wouldn't have hidden something in a client's home?"

"I doubt it," Harry said. "None of them would have any real meaning to him."

"But?" Ginny asked.

"The store might," Hermione pointed out.

"I don't think so, Hermione," Harry said. "Too much chance of it being found and sold."

"So? Where now?"

"Well, there is the locket," Harry pointed out. "The one that Dumbledore took from that cave was fake. The note proves that. I'm not sure how RAB, whoever that is, managed to get it out without touching the potion, but..."

"But the very fact that there was a note proves that he did," Ron said.

"So, who is RAB?" Ginny asked.

"Someone who had access to his plans, but changed his mind and went against him in the end, knowing that it would mean his own death," Harry said. "That's what I got from the note, in any case. And to face that..."

Harry shuddered, the thought of all the undead who had been in that cave...

"RAB, RAB..." Hermione's brow was furrowed. She tapped out a rhythm on the table top. "RAB..."

"Obviously a wizard," Ginny said, scooping up curry and chips and placing a plate in front of Harry.

He smiled up at her, "Thanks, Ginny. This looks great."

"Well, what wizarding names do we know that start with 'B'?" Ron asked, diving into his plate as Ginny place it before him.

"Well, there's Millicent Bagnold, she was the Minister of Magic before Fudge," Hermione said.

"And Heathcote Barbary!" Ginny said with a grin, doing an odd little jig before placing a plate in front of Hermione and then sitting down with her own.

"Who?" Harry looked at her oddly.

"Weird Sisters guitarist," Ron said through a mouthful of chips. "What about Ludo Bagman?"

"Ludo? Steal your gold Ludo?" Ginny snorted. "I think not."

"Well, there's Bathilda Bagshott," Hermione said, chewing contemplatively.

"Who?" All three looked at her. She looked back at them, surprised.

"Honestly, Ginny, you're as bad as they are! Bathilda Bagshott... she wrote _A History of Magic_."

Ron looked at Harry, who shrugged. Apparently he hadn't known that, either.

"There is the Bones family, and the Boot family..." Ginny said.

"Let's face it, 'B' is a perfectly common last initial in the wizarding world," Ron said, taking another bite of chips, this time with a bit of chicken curry.

"Yes... perfectly common... like Black?" Hermione turned to Harry, her eyes rounding with surprise. "Harry?"

"No..." Harry looked at her, obviously having clued in to what she was onto. "No, you don't think...?"

"What was his middle name?"

"I have no idea."

"What are you two on about?" Ron asked, a forkful of curry halfway to his mouth.

"Sirius had a brother, Ron," Harry said. "He was a death eater... until he panicked and tried to get out. His name was Regulus... Regulus Black."

"Regulus _A_. Black?" Ginny asked.

"It certainly could have been," Harry said. "And the dates... they could have been..."

"Harry, we need to find out if he got away with the locket."

"We need to find out a lot of things, Hermione. Namely, where the hell Tom Riddle disappeared to between the time he left Borkin and Burkes and when he turned up looking for a job at Hogwarts. There's a lot of years unaccounted for."

"Where do you think he went?"

"I think he went to Europe... eastern Europe," Harry said quietly. "But, tomorrow we need to start some research, and find out for sure."

"And where..?"

"Muggle library. They keep something called microfiche..."

"Can you eat it?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Micro_fiche_, Ron, not micro_fish_," Hermione said disgustedly.

"What?"

"It's how they keep records of muggle newspapers. We need to start reading about what went on where... all through the sixties and seventies."

"Twenty years worth of muggle news?" Ron looked oddly ill.

"You can have the sports section, Ron," Ginny smiled, clearing their plates.

* * *

_Okay, I'm posting this without my normal review responses for two reasons: one, because it's rather long already, and two, because I am facing an unbelievably busy day, and if I don't post it now, it won't get posted. I figured you all would prefer to read the chapter without my comments than not read it at all, so here it is – thanks for reading!_

_CQ_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Managing

"What do you _mean_ you let them leave?"

Arthur Weasley had been married to Margaret Mary Prewitt for more than half his life. As a matter of fact, it was actually much more than half, as last June they had quietly celebrated their thirtieth anniversary. While those years had been both stormy and chaotic, he'd never actually been frightened by her before.

Until now.

Molly was working up a very, very large head of steam. As Arthur watched this, rather speechless, he remembered something that the twins had often advised their siblings of: _Never let her get into her stride_.

Oh, how true.

"Molly..."

"Don't you 'Molly' me, Arthur Weasley! I want an explanation, and I want it _now_!"

"Molly, if you'd..."

"Because I cannot _believe_ that any _sane_ man would actually agree to allowing four children run off together, to Merlin knows where..."

"Molly!" Arthur raised his voice and bellowed. In all the years they'd been together, there had been less than five times that he'd raised his voice in this home. But this time... this time it was warranted.

Predictably, the pretty brown eyes of his wife widened... and she was silent.

"Molly, they are not children."

"They are, Arthur. Why, Ron can't even get a laundry charm..."

"Molly, they haven't been children for a very long time."

"They're none of them eighteen!"

"Hermione will be eighteen in a matter of weeks, and Harry and Ron are both of age... Ginny..."

"Ginny isn't yet sixteen, Arthur."

"She will be."

"Not until next week!"

"Age has nothing to do with this, Molly. You know what Harry has to do."

"I know what _Harry _has to do. Not Ron. Not Hermione... and _certainly_ not Ginny!"

"Did you really think that they'd let him go alone?"

"Letting him go alone or not wasn't their choice to make!"

"Yes, it was."

"No, it..."

"Molly," Arthur tried to calm her, pulling her into his arms. "If we had kept them from going, do you actually believe we'd have been able to _keep_ them here? The first time our backs were turned..."

"Which is no excuse whatsoever for letting them..."

"Molly... they had to."

"No!"

"Yes," Arthur felt her begin to shake with sobs. "Yes, Molly. They're intelligent, all four of them. They're together. They'll be fine."

"Arthur, you can't possibly be suggesting that we _don't follow them_?"

"We have our own duties to see to, here, Molly."

"I am going after my children!"

"No, you're not."

"I am!"

"Molly, in a few days, there will be nothing left of the Burrow. We have to be gone by then."

"What are you talking about?"

"Harry..." Arthur paused. Perhaps bringing up Harry's plans at this point wasn't such a good idea. "We're going into hiding."

"We are _not!_ I will _not_ hide from that... that..."

"We are, Molly."

"But... but if the children come back... we..."

"They're not coming back. Not until they've done what they need to."

"But..."

"I've flooed the twins..."

"The twins? What on earth for...?"

"Harry made arrangements with them. They're our secret keepers, Molly. They're taking us away tomorrow."

"No..."

"Yes. Now, don't you think we'd better begin packing? Because I know you won't leave without your clock."

With that, Molly glanced at her family clock... the clock they'd only just added the hands for Harry and Hermione to a month ago.

All four hands of the missing teens pointed at "travelling".

* * *

The following morning found the four up early. Harry had slept surprisingly well after heading out of the tent to see Hedwig for a moment before going to bed. He'd found her and Pig roosting on a low branch over their tent. Hedwig had hooted softly, and he'd given them a few owl treats and then gone to bed.

When he rose in the morning, he found Ginny sitting in the kitchen stirring a cup of tea and staring off into space.

"Morning," he said quietly. "Ron and Hermione up yet?"

"I haven't seen them," she said, staring into her cup.

"You okay?" He asked, getting himself a cup and sitting down across from her.

"Just thinking about... Mum. Home. Wondering if..."

"They'll be safe. Fred and George will have gotten them out by now. Your Dad knew what was happening."

"You spoke to him?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "I told him to contact Fred and George as soon as we were gone, that they would be coming, and to be ready. He said he'd get your Mum and the others out. They're safe, Ginny."

"I know... it's just..."

"You want to go back?"

"No," she smiled sadly. "I want this to be over."

"Me, too," Harry said. "How about breakfast?"

"It's Ron's day to cook," Ginny pointed out.

"Right," Harry smirked. "Well, I'm hungry now. What have we got?"

The two of them put a decent breakfast on the table, and were just sitting down when Ron and Hermione came in.

"What time is it?" Ron asked.

"Just after seven," Hermione said.

"Bloody hell..." Ron sat down heavily and poured himself a cup of tea. "Far too early."

"We need to get back to London," Harry pointed out. "But first, we have to scope out a place here that we can apparate to with no one noticing, in case we want to come back here."

"I think it would be a good idea to move around a bit, Harry," Hermione said. "Less likelihood of being recognized."

"I agree," said Harry. "But it's a good idea to have somewhere that we can apparate to quickly, that we all know. That way, we can get here individually if we need to."

"There was that grove just outside of town,"Ginny said. "It seemed private enough. We could check it out this morning."

"Can I eat first?" Ron asked, indignantly. "Man, I hate being a morning person."

Hermione snorted with disbelief before turning her attention to her own meal.

In the end, they packed up and headed towards the grove that Ginny had noticed on their walk out the day before. They found it to be quiet and private, and perfect for their needs should they have to come back.

"Take a mental picture," Hermione instructed. "Something to envision when you need to get back here."

"Hermione, you can be so incredibly anal, you know that?" Ron said shortly.

"Who was it who passed their test the first time, Ron?" she asked coolly. "And who was it who didn't?"

"Point taken," Ron grumbled.

"Lighten up," she said. "We're all up early."

They apparated out to the same alley in London and made their way to the Guildhall Library, which Hermione seemed quite excited about.

"How _far_ is it?" Ron asked an hour later as they walked.

"Not far now, Ron," Hermione said. "It's not far from St Pauls...see, there!"

The four made their way into the building, and Harry was impressed. This was nothing like the Hogwarts library. This was more like... well, it was far larger, for one thing. And brighter, and there didn't seem to be a Madam Pince anywhere in sight.

Hermione eagerly rushed ahead, and the others attempted to keep up with her.

"Excuse me?" Hermione approached a very un-Pincelike creature behind a desk. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. If this was was muggle librarians looked like...

Ginny snorted.

The pretty blonde woman smiled at them. "Yes?"

"We're looking for the microfiche collection for the nineteen sixties and seventies... could you help us?"

"Of course. Anything in particular?"

"Well," Hermione glanced at Harry. She'd pulled it off twice now, but Harry could see that lying to a librarian went directly against Hermione's grain.

"We're studying unsolved murders during that time period," Harry said calmly. "School project."

"It's August," the librarian said, looking oddly at him.

"We go to boarding school," Ginny said. "They assign summer homework."

The librarian laughed. "And you're just beginning your research now... a few weeks before school lets in. Typical," she laughed again, and stood from her desk. "Follow me, I'll get you set up."

Ron seemed only too happy to follow the shapely woman, and Hermione shook her head disgustedly.

She led them to a quiet study room with several computer screens. "All of our microfiche records are now digitized," she said, leaning over and clicking with the mouse through several menus. Ron stood back, a slight grin on his face. Hermione shot him a rather nasty look and sat down at the first computer. The librarian set up the others, and wished them luck.

Three hours later, Ron stretched tiredly. "Nothing. Not a damned thing."

"Keep looking, Ron," Harry said, leaning over his own screen. "There's got to be something here..."

"Harry?" Hermione said. "I've found and printed off several possibles, but..."

"But?"

"But this... Harry, I think you ought to look at this."

Harry stood and walked over to her. She had just printed something off and handed it to him. He read.

"What is it?" Ginny asked Hermione quietly. Hermione continued to watch Harry.

"It's the news report from Godric's Hollow the night my parents died," Harry said. "From the muggles point of view."

They were all silent for a while, Harry contemplative. Suddenly, he put the report down on the pile next to Hermione and straightened.

"Alright. Come on... time for some lunch and a break. We can come back to this this afternoon."

They spent a few hours that afternoon in the library again, and then found a caravan park on the outskirts of London that they could take the tube to. They all fell into bed that night, exhausted.

The following weeks were spent, researching at the libraries and reading what they found after setting up their tent at night. Hedwig and Pig were always close by, and their days fell into something like a routine, although certainly not the one they were used to.

They switched between several caravan parks, and did their shopping daily. Ginny was found to be, by far, the best cook, and Ron the worst. They generally ended up having beans on toast on the nights that it was his turn in the kitchen. Before they knew it, it was the first of September.

"I wonder..." Ginny mused that evening as they ate their dinner of tinned soup and some baguettes that they'd bought from a bakery that day.

"Hogwarts didn't open this year," Hermione said firmly. "I know it didn't."

"Doesn't matter if it did or didn't," Harry said. "We have a job to do."

"Harry?" Ginny looked at him. He sat, ignoring his dinner and reading one of the newspaper printouts from their day at the library.

"Hmm?"

"What are we going to do when it gets cold?"

"What do you mean?" Harry looked up at her, the oddly distracted look on his face that he got when his attention was divided. Ginny smiled fondly.

"I mean, when it gets cold, in the fall, the caravan parks close."

"What?" Ron looked up. "How do you know that?"

"Because the last three we've checked into, including this one, have a great big sign at the front telling their rates... and from October to April they read 'closed'."

"I doubt it will matter," Hermione said. She'd abandoned her own bowl and stood working at the long table where she was piecing together a timeline based on the articles they'd found.

"The park being closed is a problem, Hermione," Ron said.

Hermione glanced at Harry. Harry stared back.

"Hermione's right," he said, after a moment.

"How so?" Ginny asked.

"It's not going to matter, because we won't be here."

"Where will we be?"

"There's a huge chunk of time missing, Ron," Hermione pointed out, coming to sit down next to him. "We're finding plenty of stuff after nineteen seventy two... but until then..."

"The first twelve years that we're looking at, there's nothing that could be attributed to Death Eaters," Harry pointed out. "Nothing that could be suggestive of Voldemort having returned to England."

"Where do you think he was?"

"Europe," Harry said. "Eastern Europe. When he attacked my family, after the spell rebounded on him, he went to Albania, and didn't return until Quirrell ran into him."

"So why do you think that he was there before?"

"Because I think he returned to what he knew... a place he felt safe. He travelled, sure... but I think it was mostly through Eastern Europe and Asia. He learned a lot through those years. Dumbledore said he was hardly recognizable as the same person who Dumbledore knew when he taught him at Hogwarts. He studied the Dark Arts intensely in those years. Where better than..."

"Durmstrang," Ron spat.

"Or the area, at least," Harry agreed.

"Harry,"Ginny's brow furrowed. "Eastern Europe is colder than here."

"Yes."

"So..."

"We'll manage, Ginny."

"Harry, we have another problem," Hermione said.

"What?"

"How are we going to travel freely in Eastern Europe, in some of the most patriarchal countries in the world... I mean, Ginny and I are..."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, some of the places in this area... a single woman travelling alone with a man... we could have problems."

"Well, that's where we need to go. We'll manage."

"How?" Hermione said quietly as she watched Harry leave the room and head to his bedroom.

"Harry says we'll manage, Mione," Ron put a hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll manage."

* * *

"Tell me again, exactly why we're tramping through this bloody forest, bloody _freezing_, at three in the morning?" Ron complained, shivering violently.

"Because this is where he lived... when he was separated from his body, Ron. This was where he came. This is where Wormtail found him, this is where Bertha Jorkins died, and this is where I hope to find some _clue_ as to the whereabouts of the last bloody horcrux to be identified!"

"The diary, the ring, the cup, the locket, that bloody bitch of a snake, and Voldemort himself," Ron listed them off. It had become a kind of mantra to them. They were the horcruxes they knew, and even after four months of searching, they had not made any headway on identifying the seventh and final horcrux.

Their early success, on the first day of their quest, in finding Helga Hufflepuff's golden cup under the floorboards in the old orphanage building had given them encouragement too early. Now, early December and in Albania, they were beginning to feel dejected. Hermione kept reading over their notes and mumbling to herself, and Ginny watched Harry with sad eyes.

"The last bit... it must have been made when they were here..."

"No," Harry said. "It was Nagini. She was made here... Bertha Jorkins died here..."

"Then what are we doing here if we know who died and what was made at this site?" Ron stopped dead. "Why aren't we looking for where he was _before_ this?"

"We have no way to tell, Ron," Harry grunted as he climbed over a fallen log, looking back at Ron. "I don't know where he was before... and I'm not even sure of where he was after... but either way, I have a feeling there will be a clue here to point us in the right direction."

"Get moving, Ron!" Hermione said from behind. "The slower you move, the faster we freeze!"

Harry turned, to lead on, and stopped dead.

"Harry?" Ginny sensed the change immediately, and pushed past Ron and jumped over the log to come to a standstill at Harry's side. "Oh..."

"He was here," Harry said quietly.

"What is it?"

"Looks like the skeleton of a horse... a small horse..." Ron said. Harry walked forward, Ginny close at his side.

"Not a horse," Harry squatted lifting the long pointed horn. "Not a horse."

"Oh, no," Hermione gasped. "He didn't?"

"He did in the Forbidden Forest," Harry said. "Why not here?"

"Because... because..." Hermione sobbed. Ron's arm came around her and she turned into his chest. "Oh, how could he? There are so _few_ of them left!"

Harry stood and looked at Ginny. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, and Harry swallowed. Helplessly, he reached out and pulled her to him.

They didn't often touch beyond holding hands. Harry avoided it when he could. Touching her had far too strong an effect on him. But now, here, at the site of such a sacriledge, he needed to hold her. He rested his cheek on the top of her head and took a deep breath. He'd learned over the past four months that the flowery scent he associated with her came from her shampoo, but the smell was still purely Ginny. He breathed deeply again.

"Let's get out of here," Ron said quietly.

"We need to have a look around," Harry said. "If... this... is here, then it's probably where he stayed..."

They spent a long time searching the area, and only moved away when they heard voices in the distance. Early morning hikers walking through the forest between the two towns it divided. Finally admitting defeat, they headed back to the town where they were staying, and to the small inn they had rented rooms in. Mr and Mrs James Prewitt and Mr and Mrs Arthur Evans had been staying in various inns and hotels throughout the area for the past month. Two honeymooning couples, according to their papers, Mr Prewitt and his pretty red-headed wife were said to be friends of several high-ranking British officials, and Mrs Prewitt's brother and his new wife were indulging in a long-planned visit to the area where Mrs Evans had had a penpal in years past, accounting for her ability, albeit limited, with the language.

But as nice as the young couples seemed, it didn't mean anyone should talk to them. As a matter of fact, Harry and the others were finding the locals particularly closed-mouthed about other foreign visitors. Remarkably closed-mouthed.

This had been Harry's last idea. At this point, he wasn't sure where to turn. All he did know was that Voldemort _had_ been here, but whether or not the locals had _known_ he was there, well, that they couldn't find out without asking outright, and he certainly didn't want to bring that kind of attention to them.

And this was their last night here. He'd agreed to move on in the morning if they found nothing at the site, and nothing was what they'd found, except the remains of the long-dead unicorn. Harry felt like crying, but he was too tired.

Entering the inn, Harry automatically took Ginny's hand. Given the fact that they had been passing themselves off as two married couples, they had begun to show little signs of affection in public. Hermione had blushingly pointed out that, if they really were recently married, they would hardly walk around without showing any affection, and that they had to play their roles. Harry had silently given in. Touching Ginny wouldn't be difficult. The difficulty would be in stopping the behavior when it was no longer required.

Which was one more reason why he didn't much want to leave the area.

He sighed as they climbed the stairs to the doors to their rooms. The rooms were across from each other, which was a difficulty in itself. In most towns, there were reasonably modern hotels, and they were normally able to get a room with an interconnecting door. The two couples entered, and simply rearranged themselves from inside, out of range of the curious eyes of the locals.

In this hotel, Ginny crossing to stay with Hermione and Ron coming back would certainly have raised some eyebrows, and they didn't want to risk doing magic unless they had to. They had been forced to make do. Ron was sporting a crick in his neck from sleeping in the armchair in the room he and Hermione were sharing, and Harry had become intimately acquainted with the floorboards of the room he and Ginny had.

And this morning he'd spent ten minutes standing in the shower sniffing her shampoo bottle.

"Let's try to get a couple hours sleep," Harry said in a low voice when they reached the opposite doorways. "Have a nap, meet for dinner later, and then get a good nights sleep, we need to be away early in the morning."

"Where...?" Ron began, but Hermione kicked him lightly in the shin and he remembered himself. They never talked about where they were going until they were on their way. Harry insisted that it was safer, and it would be impossible for anyone to overhear their plans that way.

"Mione, have you got any of those dried sausages...?" They heard Ron asking as they separated.

Ginny giggled, "He's never not hungry, is he?"

"Not for as long as I've known him."

"It seems strange..."

"I know," Harry glanced around, opened the door of their room, and entered closely behind her. "Not out here."

"Sorry," Ginny looked instantly contrite. Hermione had started answering to "Mione", despite her dislike of the name that Ron had taken to calling her, in order to not draw attention with her unique name. Ginny had suggested that she, herself, should take her mother's name, but Harry had steadfastly refused, and simply started calling her "Smidge", Bill's pet name for her. Ron and Hermione had followed suit.

Closing the door behind them, Harry watched her for a moment. "You should get a bit of sleep if you can."

"So should you," she folded a pair of jeans that had been laid across the bottom of the bed. Harry's. Lightly, she placed them on the armchair. She tried to avoid touching Harry's things. It made her feel strange.

"We both should," He said, eyeing the bed. It was a double, exactly like the one in Ron and Hermione's room, the two best rooms the tiny inn had to offer.

"I'll... read. You rest."

"You've been up all night, just like me," Harry said, thinking with a sinking heart of the hard floor he'd slept on the night before and the three nights previous to that.

"Harry?"

He looked up at her.

"It's a double. We could both get some rest."

Harry swallowed. To sleep next to her...?

"Are you... sure?"

"It's not like you're going to jump me or anything..." she flushed.

_Don't be too bloody sure..._ Harry immediately silenced the taunting voice in his head.

"If you're sure...?" he glanced at the armchair. He'd tried it the first night, but couldn't stretch out, and had finally thrown the cushion on the floor and slept there. The bed looked much more comfortable.

"I'm sure. Come on..." Ginny smiled, then turned down the bed, stripped to her underwear and climbed in.

After a while of living together in the relatively small area of the tent, they'd all left modesty behind. Harry had seen Ginny, and Hermione for that matter, in nothing but their knickers. It had just ceased to matter once they'd been together, sharing what was, in effect, a tiny home, for months. He thought nothing of Ginny changing in front of him, nor of his changing in front of her, or Hermione for that matter.

Harry, clearly looking forward to a decent sleep on a mattress, stripped and crawled in beside her. The warmth under the covers seeped into him, and he sighed. Ginny giggled, and he felt a soft touch on his face. His hand, instinctively, flew up and caught hers as it hovered there.

"Your glasses, Harry... you need to take them off," her voice was soft, faint. He'd startled her.

"Thanks," he removed them and placed them on the bedside table, settling down into the pillow facing her, his eyes were closed in seconds, his breathing regulated in minutes, and Ginny laid there, watching him sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Dragon Camp

The tiny innkeeper smiled happily at them as they ate the dinner she'd prepared that night at the long table in the public dining room of the inn. She eagerly piled more sausages on Ron's plate as he grinned happily back at her.

"I'm going to miss the food," Ron said as she moved back to her kitchen to fetch a pot of potatoes.

Harry smiled. Ron had said that every place they'd been.

"Tomorrow?" Ginny asked.

"Early," Harry confirmed.

"There's nothing more here to look into?" Ron asked in a low voice, sipping at his water.

"Nothing," Harry said. "He took what he made here with him."

They traded glances, communicating without words.

After dinner, as they were used to doing, they put on the heavy jackets that Hermione had transfigured their all-weather cloaks into, and went for a stroll around the town.

"It's pretty here," Ginny said, her small mittened hand held loosely in Harry's larger one. "It seems almost impossible that anything... like that... could happen here."

"Things like that can happen anywhere," Harry said. "Anywhere at all."

"I'm going to sleep well tonight," Ron said happily. Harry and Ginny noticed the look Hermione shot him, and then watched as Ron flushed. "I mean... I..."

"We'll all sleep better tonight, Ron," Ginny said softly. "As much as I like this little town, I'm going to be glad to leave, I think."

They ended up back in the inn, had some of the warmed, sweet wine the innkeeper pressed on them, and retired early. Harry was very aware of the early hour he'd set for them to leave.

They quietly parted at the top of the stairs, Ron and Hermione entering the room opposite, and Harry following Ginny into their own.

"Christmas is only a little over a week away," Ginny said softly, removing her jacket and boots as Harry walked across to open the window. Hedwig flew in, landed on the desk and shook her feathers.

"Yes," Harry said, stroking the snowy owl gently.

"I wonder..."

"They're fine, Smidge. I'm sure of it."

"Do you think...?"

"What?"

"Do you think we could send a message home... just so they know that we're okay?"

Harry turned and looked at her, his green eyes sparkling. "You're homesick."

"Aren't you?"

Harry smiled. "It's different for me."

"How?"

"You need a home to be homesick for. I miss people... when they're not there," his eyes lingered on her. Ginny felt her cheeks warm.

"We should get some sleep," she said softly, moving to the side of the bed and removing her jumper.

Harry hesitated, eyeing the floor again.

"Harry, don't be silly. We shared the bed this afternoon."

Harry felt instant relief. He hadn't been looking forward to a return to the floor. "Ginny?"

She turned, surprised. He hadn't called her by her name in months.

"Harry?"

"I promise, we'll get word to them soon."

"Thank you."

Harry found sleep hard to come by that night. He laid awake, listening to Ginny's breathing, and the occasional hoot from Hedwig, who had taken up residence on the windowsill where she could watch for mice on the snowy ground two stories below.

Under the duvet, Harry felt Ginny's warmth, and edged closer. Without realizing how, he found himself with his arms around her, her head on his shoulder, and her warm body held closely to his side. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he remembered his dreams that night.

* * *

They were an hour outside of the village, still shrouded in darkness, when Harry called a halt.

"Brooms," he said quietly. Immediately, they all opened their packs and removed their brooms. Hermione cast swift enlarging charms, and they suddenly had four full-sized firebolts. "Disillusionment," Harry turned to Ginny and cast the spell on her, his wand tapping the top of her head. When she was invisible, he felt the tap on his own head, then the familiar cold feeling washing over him. "Mount up."

With a kick, they were in the sky, and flying towards the north east. Dawn was still a thin, pale line on the horizon. Silently, they flew through what was left of the darkness.

This wasn't the first time they'd flown their brooms. If they travelled this way, Harry insisted that they leave in the darkness, fly disillusioned, and land some distance from their destination. And they had to be silent while they flew. Harry had pointed out that in the cold winter air, noise travelled well, and they didn't want people in the countryside hearing voices in the air. The chances of their seeing the bits of their brooms still visible was minimal, but they had no wish to draw the attention of muggles to flying voices.

They flew silently for four hours. Harry was beginning to feel rather stiff and cold when he began to descend towards the patchwork of rocky country below them. Landing on a rough outcropping, he immediately stepped back and into the cover of an overhang of rock and countered the disillusionment on himself. The others, all that was visible of them the tips and ends of their brooms not covered by their cloaks, landed soon after and followed him in.

"Where are we?" Ginny asked, her voice shivering with cold.

"You'll see," Harry said. "Okay, everyone?"

"Cold," Hermione's teeth chattered. Harry swiftly hit her with the counter to the disillusionment charm and a warming charm, then did the same for Ginny. Hermione helped Ron. Harry was looking out over the steppes when he felt warmth hit him. He turned to see Ginny smiling at him.

"You needed to warm up, too."

"Thanks," he nodded at her, taking her hand.

"Where are we?"

"I'll tell you soon," Harry said quietly. "We need to move on."

"Walking?"

"For now."

"How far?"

"About two miles, at best guess."

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Not right now," Harry smiled.

"Fine," she shook her head. "Let's get to where we're going. It's cold."

Harry led them in the direction that he thought he'd seen the encampment from the air. With luck, the person he was hoping to meet would still be there. He'd been given the information over six months ago, and situations changed.

As they approached the camp just before eleven o'clock, Harry searched the group. It was several minutes later, and they'd been noticed by more than one person, when he suddenly saw the familiar red hair.

"Harry?" Ginny squeezed his hand. "Is this...?"

"Smidget?" the bulky form of Charlie Weasley came running up to them, grabbed Ginny and swung her around in the air, laughing. He hugged her hard, then turned to Ron and hugged him, as well. "I can't believe you're here! Harry... what on earth...?"

"Hello, Charlie."

"You're okay? All of you are okay?"

"We're fine, Charlie," Ginny's eyes glowed with thanks as she looked at Harry. "We're great."

"Where have you been? Mum's been going nuts..." Charlie hugged Hermione and then turned to Harry. "Where have you been?"

"We can't tell you that, Charlie," Harry said quietly.

"No... no, of course you can't..." Charlie was obviously concerned, but he nodded. "I'll have to owl Mum..."

"Not until after we're gone, Charlie," Ginny said.

"But, Gin..."

"And it's Smidge... okay?"

"What?"

"We're travelling as muggles, Charlie," Ron explained. "And it's bloody cold out here... can we get inside somewhere?"

Charlie laughed. "You get used to it... sorry. I can't believe you're here... I... does Mum know...? Of course she doesn't... come on..."

"I think we should set up our own tent. Do you have somewhere we can do that?"

"Yes," Charlie nodded. "Just over here..."

"Where are the dragons?" Ron asked.

"Disillusionment charm," Charlie laughed. "They're quite close, though..."

He pointed and Ron turned, behind them, in the field they'd just traversed, were three sleeping dragons. They'd walked within feet of them.

"You mean, we...?"

"Perfectly safe, Ron," Charlie laughed. "They're asleep. Now, had they been awake..."

Ron turned white. "No one thought of putting up a sign or two? Give a bloke fair warning?"

"That would rather defy the reasoning behind disillusioning them, now wouldn't it?" Hermione asked dryly, hitching up her rucksack and following Charlie.

He led them towards a low slope beneath the main camp and pointed out an area. "That big enough?"

"Uh... yes," Harry laughed.

"Quite," Hermione smiled.

They quickly removed the tent from Ron's pack, the poles from Harry's, and the stakes from Hermione's and set up the tent.

"Come in for a cup of tea, Charlie?" Ginny asked as Hermione disappeared after Ron under the flap.

"Magical tent?"

"Um, yeah," Harry smiled. "Plenty of room."

Charlie followed Ginny and Harry brought up the rear, standing as he got inside.

"Nice place," Charlie looked around appreciatively.

"It's home," Ginny shrugged, taking off her heavy cloak and tossing it over the back of the couch. Charlie looked at her oddly.

"You can't tell me where you've been?" Charlie asked as they removed their outer gear and sat down. Ginny dissappeared into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, Charlie... it would be too dangerous. Even coming here..."

"Then why did you?"

"Ginny was missing you... everyone."

Charlie nodded, then looked down at his hands. "Can you tell me where you're _going_? Or how long before you go home and my mother gets to sleep again?"

"I'm sorry, Charlie," Harry shook his head.

"We came with Harry by choice, Charlie," Ron said in a low voice. "I don't like worrying Mum, but I'd do it again. We have a job to do."

Charlie looked at his younger brother, then at Hermione, sitting close beside him on the couch. Harry sat in the large armchair to their left, and Charlie's eyes strayed to the doorway as Ginny came through with a tray of tea.

"You're okay, though?"

"We're fine," Ginny asked. "Is everyone... at home...?"

Charlie looked at her for a moment. "I'm sorry, but no. You've been gone for over four months, things have happened."

"What?" Ron asked, sitting forward.

"Who?" Ginny's voice was faint as she sat down on the arm of Harry's chair. Harry touched her back, instinctively trying to give her some strength.

"Mum and Dad are fine. They moved the day you left. I get regular owls from Dad. Mum is going crazy wondering... well."

"Who, Charlie?" Ginny insisted. "Bill?"

"No, Smidge. Percy."

"Percy?" Ron's voice was hollow. "When?"

"September. There were several attacks... the Ministry... Dad was there, but..."

"Dad's okay?"

"As okay as you can be when you watch your child die, I guess," Charlie said. "They were after Scrimgeour..."

"And did they get him?" Harry asked in a dangerous voice.

"No," Charlie said calmly. "They didn't. He..."

"He what?"

"He... well, Perc' took the brunt of the attack. He... they say he didn't suffer."

"Who says?" Harry asked sharply.

"The aurors," Charlie said. "Tonks said... Tonks told me that the curses they used... well, he was gone quickly."

There was a moment of silence. Harry had thought the middle Weasley son was a first rate idiot, as had most of his siblings, but he was still Molly and Arthur's child, still Ginny and Ron's brother.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. It... Molly must have been a mess," Hermione said softly.

"She's suffering more wondering where you lot are, if you're dead or alive," Charlie said shortly. "Running off like that..."

"We've got a job we've got to do, Charlie," Ron said. "Dad understood that."

"I know," Charlie nodded.

"You can send them an owl after we've left," Harry said.

"They'd do better with an owl from you," Charlie growled.

"Then we'll write letters for you to have delivered, shall we?" Hermione said.

Charlie looked at her. "Your parents are worried, too. They've been in contact with Remus."

There was a shadow in Hermione's eyes. "I told them I had to go away for a while, that they wouldn't be able to contact me until I got back."

"They're still worried," Charlie said. "Your cousin got married."

"Deanna?" Hermione looked at him, her eyes rounded. "But..."

"You were supposed to be there. They didn't think you'd miss that."

"I forgot..." Hermione said. "With everything else.. I just forgot."

"Are you at least... succeeding in what you're trying to do?"

"We can't talk about that, Charlie," Harry said. "For your safety as much as ours."

Charlie nodded. "I don't suppose you can tell me how long you'll be here?"

"A few days," Harry said. "No longer."

"There's more news from home," Charlie said, sipping his tea. "Fleur is preggers..."

Ginny gasped.

"And so is Tonks," Charlie grinned.

"Tonks?" Hermione's eyes widened. "But..."

"She and Remus got married the first of September," Charlie laughed. "Just went and got married. They're living at Grimmauld Place. Tonks said you wouldn't mind."

Harry grinned. He didn't mind at all. Remus was going to be a father.

"The twins?" Harry asked.

"Doing well. Running the shop. No one knows where they or Mum and Dad or Bill and Fleur are living. I don't suppose you could tell me that?"

"I couldn't if I wanted to, Charlie," Harry looked at him meaningfully.

"I didn't figure you could," Charlie nodded, understanding. "When I go back to visit I go to Grimmauld Place. I haven't seen the twins, but Mum and Dad say they're doing fine."

"And the school? Hogwarts?"

Charlie's eyes clouded. "McGonagall tried, but they just couldn't open this year... too many people withdrew their kids. Dumbledore gone, and... well, with Snape having been a teacher... people just don't want their children out of sight."

"I don't suppose you've heard anything about Neville Longbottom or Luna Lovegood?" Ginny asked.

"Luna, no... but Neville was here."

"What?" Harry looked at Charlie.

"He came looking for you. Said he wanted to go with you, after he'd found out you were gone. He figured I'd know where you were, as he couldn't find Bill or Mum and Dad. I told him how to get in touch with Dad at the Ministry."

"How long ago?" Harry was surprised.

"September."

"Can you deliver a letter to him for me, Charlie?"

"I can have it delivered."

"Good. I'll have it for you when we leave."

"Well," Charlie stood. "It's almost lunch... I have a shift at one. Is there anything you'll need?"

"No," Ginny stood and hugged him. "We've got everything we need right here."

"Dinner is served at six,"Charlie said. "You'll join the crew?"

"Is it safe?" asked Harry.

"Safe?" Charlie looked at him.

"I don't particularly want it getting back to Voldemort that we're here, Charlie," Harry said firmly.

"No one here..." Charlie looked like he was going to lose his temper for a minute, before he took a deep breath. Harry waited. "I suppose you have to be suspicious of anyone you don't know, don't you?"

"It's how we've stayed alive this long," Ron replied. "Can we trust the people here, Charlie?"

"They're a good bunch," Charlie said. "I've known them all for years, and there isn't one of them who hasn't lost someone to Voldemort, who wouldn't give their left... well, wouldn't give a lot to see him burn. No, they're all trustworthy."

Harry nodded, then looked down at his hands. He felt... out of place. Was this what this thing with Voldemort was doing to him? Was he turning into someone who wasn't even comfortable in the presence of the Weasley family?

"Six o'clock... at the main tent," Charlie nodded before exiting through the door. Harry glanced up, just as he was hit solidly with a body.

Ginny.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you..." she rained kisses on his face as she hugged him tightly. Harry's body's response was immediate and obvious. He flushed deeply.

Ginny grinned and kissed him again, long and hard, until Ron cleared his throat meaningfully.

"Well, I don't know about you lot... but I'm for a nap," he said, standing and stretching.

Harry thought Hermione shot him a rather nasty look, but couldn't be sure, as the distraction of having Ginny in his lap was proving too much. She had just kissed him like... like...

Like she still meant it.

* * *

Harry didn't sleep. He tossed and turned, and he finally dozed lightly, but by four o'clock, he was up, had a shower and changed. He collected the clothing that needed washing, and headed downstairs to find Hermione.

He found Ginny.

"Good morning," She smiled at him over the rim of a cup of tea from where she sat at the table.

"Morning. Did you sleep?"

"For a bit. Tea?"

"Please. Are the others down yet?"

"No..." Ginny's eyes slid to the stairs and the closed doors to the landing at the top.

Harry looked at her for a moment, not understanding the tone in her voice. She sounded amused. "What?"

"You haven't noticed?"

"Noticed?"

"Hmm," Ginny put the tea pot down and pushed his cup toward him. "Nothing. What did you need her for?"

"I have laundry, and I'm not very good at the cleansing charm..."

"I had noticed," Ginny smiled. "Let me."

"You can...?"

"I'm Molly Weasley's child, what do you think?"

"Well, so is Ron, and I haven't noticed that he's any better at it than I am," Harry said, pushing the pile towards her. He sipped at his tea as she pulled the clothes towards her and started casting quick charms at them.

"Thank you, Harry," Ginny said softly.

"For what?"

"For bringing us here. I was really missing my family, and you knew that."

"Of course I knew it," Harry said. "You're a close family, and you haven't seen them in ages. Maybe you shouldn't have..."

"Don't say it," her eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked up at him. "Don't you dare."

"But I'm glad you did," Harry admitted, his eyes on the table in front of him. Why was it so difficult to talk to her honestly? He used to be able to...

_But that was before you realized that Ginny Weasley's being too close to you could be very, very dangerous for her._

_But isn't she in danger now? Here? She came with you, despite everything. She's here. This is enough to get her killed, isn't it? _

"Harry?" Ginny was looking at him oddly.

"I'm fine," Harry nodded. "I'm also hungry. We skipped lunch."

"I made muffins when I got up," she stood and moved to the counter, coming back with a tray. Harry took two and dug in. He was on his second when Ron stumbled sleepily down the stairs.

"Mmm," Ron said, grabbing a muffin as he poured a cup of tea. "Muffins."

"You're welcome," Ginny said dryly, not looking up from cleaning Harry's clothes.

"You make great muffins, Smidge," Ron said, doing his best to stuff half of one in his mouth. "What's that you're doing?"

"Harry's laundry," Ginny said absently.

"Ooh, I have stuff..." Ron brightened immediately.

"Get Mione to do it," Ginny retorted.

"You'll do his but not mine? Nice!"

"I..." Harry began, sensing the beginning of a sibling argument.

"I'm doing Harry's because I _offered_ to do Harry's. Because no one has actually ever taught him how. Mum _has_ taught you, so do your own, or ask Mione to help."

"Nice," Ron repeated, taking another muffin and sitting back petulantly.

"What are you two arguing about?" Hermione came down the stairs.

"Laundry!" They both spoke at once, and then ended up grinning at each other.

"Well, so long as you're both happy about it," Hermione looked at them as though trying to understand the workings of either of their minds. "How long are we here for?"

"A few days. No more," Harry said quietly.

Ginny turned and looked at him, "But it's only bit over a week until Christmas..."

"I know, but he'll be expecting us to try to be with family at Christmas. He's going to be watching. If there are visitors here... well..."

"We'll be with family," Ron said, working on his fourth muffin. "We'll be together."

Hermione smiled happily at him, and leaned down, kissing him on the cheek. "That's the nicest thing you've said in a long, long time."

* * *

Dinner with the dragon trainers was interesting, to say the least. Harry watched quietly, responding when spoken to, but otherwise watching the others. He was sipping at a second cup of the strong coffee the crew drank after the meal, watching, as Hermione, Ginny and Ron took part in an animated conversation with two of Charlie's fellow trainers when Charlie sat down heavily next to him.

"So?" Charlie looked at him.

"So?"

"What's going on, Harry?"

"I told you, I can't tell you that, Charlie."

"Not _that_," Charlie said quietly. "I meant with you and Ginny."

Harry's eyes moved back to him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Ron told me that the four of you have been travelling as honeymooning muggles, that's what I mean."

"Charlie, it's not..."

"It had better not be," Charlie growled. "She's sixteen, Harry."

"I know."

"Then why?"

"Charlie... we've been travelling. In places that... it's safer for her and Mione to be thought of as married women."

"I'm wondering who thought it up, Potter."

"Hermione, actually," Harry said. "Look, we've been going places... places where Ginny could easily have been..." he swallowed, trying to regain control of his temper. "Charlie, she's safer this way."

"You shouldn't have brought her in the first place," Charlie said soberly.

"It wasn't my choice, but just so you know, your _dad_ told me he thought she'd be safer with us than left behind. Because your dad knows her, and he knew damned well that she wouldn't have stayed there. She would have come looking for us. Alone. This way, I can be sure she's safe. I can try to control the situation enough to get her _out_."

"You've been living together. Ron says you've been masquerading as a married couple..."

"I've told you why!"

"The wizarding world wouldn't..."

"We're not travelling as wizards, Charlie," Harry hissed, his eyes fiery green. He was very aware of the people around them. "We've been travelling as muggles. Voldemort gets wind of four wizards travelling around, he's going to take notice. No one is noticing two muggle couples."

"You..."

"I'd protect her with my life, Charlie. Even from myself," Harry stood, leaving the room and the building, heading back to the tent.

He was glad that Ginny was enjoying seeing her brother, but as far as he was concerned, they couldn't leave quickly enough.

* * *

Ginny found him leaning over the table in the tent, studying Hermione's timeline.

"Harry?" she said, softly announcing herself from the doorway. Harry glanced over his shoulder, staring at her for a moment, his expression non-committal. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I thought you'd be visiting for a while longer," he turned back to the timeline.

"Harry?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Now she had his attention. He turned, looking at her curiously.

"For Charlie," she bit her lip. "I saw you two arguing. It didn't take a genius to figure it out."

"You..."

"So, being no genius, Ron figured it out, and told me," she smiled. Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just thought... I didn't want to lose my temper in front of Charlie's friends. Not exactly the way I pictured the visit."

"Charlie had no right..." her eyes flared.

"He had every right, Gin. But he needed to be set straight on some stuff."

Ginny sighed, then walked toward him, putting her arms around his neck and resting her cheek against his heart. "I'm still sorry."

"It's fine. Now he knows that there isn't anything... inappropriate... going on."

"Inappropriate?" Ginny laughed.

"You know," Harry felt his cheeks turn pink, but he wasn't sure if it was from the direction of the conversation or from his body's reaction to Ginny's slightly rounded form pressing against him.

_Damn_.

"Well, I think I'll have a shower before bed," Ginny pulled away, turned away before Harry could look into her eyes. Her cheeks seemed rather flushed as well.

"Ron and Mione?"

"Two of Charlie's buddies challenged Ron to some muggle game called 'quarters'... apparently it involves tossing coins at a bottle of firewhiskey and trying to knock the cap off, and from what I can tell, you aim to lose. Mione is trying to drag him out. Charlie wasn't helping."

"Well, I think I'll leave them to it, then."

"Good night, Harry."

"Good night," Harry said, watching her as she retreated up the stairs and through the door into the bath. When she was gone, he turned back to the timeline.

"Harry, a hand here?" A flustered Hermione came through the doorway on her hands and knees, dragging a loudly singing Ron behind her an hour later.

"Trouble?"

"Ron. Drunk. Of course it's trouble!" Hermione glared at him like he'd said the stupidest thing in the world.

Harry laughed, moving to the door to pull Ron through. Hermione had managed to get him half way in, and he was currently lying on his back singing a rather annoying song about a young witch from Dover.

Hermione was blushing.

By the time Harry had managed to get the inebriated and very jovial Ron up to his bed and settled for the night, Hermione had gone to bed as well, and there was no one to discuss the details of the timeline with.

With a sigh, Harry, too, went to bed.

* * *

Much, much later, Harry found himself lying, suddenly awake, in bed. He didn't know for a moment what it was that had woken him. He listened, but there was no sound, so he rolled over to go back to sleep. Which was when he realized exactly what the cause of his waking had been.

Sometime while he slept, Ginny had crept into his room, and now lay curled on the other half of his bed, the duvet tucked beneath her chin. Harry gazed at her for a moment, wondering if he ought to wake her and ask her why she was there. In the end, he simply put one arm around her, pulling her back against his chest, and went back to sleep with his face buried in her flower-scented hair.

* * *

"I had a nightmare."

Harry was dozing, but was vaguely aware of the body lying curled next to his. He could feel her thigh against his, her toes where they pressed against his calves, and the softness of her breast against his chest...

He was suddenly completely awake and pulling away from the warmth of her. He was experiencing a very common reaction to where his thoughts had just been, but couldn't imagine what Ginny's reaction would be.

"Harry, relax..." Ginny moved closer to him. "I have six brothers, Harry... I know..."

"I'm not your brother," Harry's voice was gritty with sleep.

"Oh, I am fully aware of that," Ginny laughed.

"Gin..."

"Harry, please don't push me away again."

"I have to."

"No, you don't have to. You _want_ to."

"No," Harry said, laying back against the pillows with a resigned sigh. "I don't _want_ to, Gin. Trust me. Right now, I'd rather stick a pin in my eye than push you away, but..."

"Then don't," Ginny sat up, looking down at him. Harry noticed she was wearing a tshirt...

"Is that my shirt?" he asked, squinting at her.

"Yes," she smiled.

"Ron said you had a thing about nicking clothes..."

"This is the only thing of yours that I've... well..."

"Well, what?"

"I've actually nicked some of your socks, too," she flushed, biting her lip.

"That was _you_?" Harry asked, dumbfounded. All through sixth year at Hogwarts his socks kept disappearing. Harry had suspected Dobby, knowing full well the thing that the houseelf had about socks, but to find out that Ginny had been taking them, going through his trunk...

He flushed wildly.

"I like your socks," Ginny smiled, laying back down against his chest. Harry's arm went around her instinctively. She sighed.

"Ginny..."

"Harry, I know what you said. I remember it very, very clearly. But I just don't happen to agree with you."

"What? Why?"

"Because, Harry, we've been together for nearly five months, on our own, with only Ron and Hermione around, and I'm still alive."

Harry was silent.

"It rather blows a few planet-sized holes in your theory that I'm somehow at more risk when I'm with you."

"If you..."

"Harry, will you be honest with me if I ask you a question?" She sat up again.

"Of course..."

"Would you be hurt if I were... taken? Targetted?"

"That's _exactly_ why..."

"If Tom got hold of me, that would hurt you?"

"Yes."

"Could anything possibly hurt more?"

"No," he said quietly. "Ginny..."

"Then how could it possibly hurt more if we stayed together? Harry, I'm close to you, regardless of whether our relationship is... romantic... or not. My brother is close to you. Hermione is close to you. Everyone knows that. Added to that, my father is an official with the Ministry, not to mention the head of the Order of the Phoenix. _All_ of my family is _extremely_ vocal about their opposition to the Dark, and their willingness to fight Voldemort. He possessed me in my first year, and you saved me from him when I was supposed to die. How much more of a target could I possibly be?"

"Ginny..."

"Besides which, Harry Potter, _I love you_."

They stared at each other for a full minute before Harry pulled her back down into his arms. How could he let her go? Quite simply, he couldn't, and he no longer intended to.

* * *

_Okay, folks -- there is a nasty rumor going around that is "punishing" people for having review responses in the text of their story. I'm attempting to find out more... and as soon as I know, you'll know. Until then, thanks for reading my stuff!_

_ CQ  
_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Leaving Family Behind

Ron's appearance the following morning told the others everything they needed to know about the advisability of playing drinking games with Charlie's friends.

"Merlin... how do they do this and then go work with dragons?" he groaned as he sat at the table.

"I don't suppose that they're stupid enough lose," Hermione sniffed at him as she walked through from the kitchen, before placing a plate of eggs none too gently in front of him.

Ron took one look at the eggs, sunny side up, and turned a rather fetching shade of puce. Harry grinned and Hermione stalked into the kitchen, obviously still upset.

"She's still mad," Ron said as he pushed the plate away and laid his head down on his folded arms on the tabletop.

"I'd say so, yes," Harry agreed.

"She knows I hate my eggs sunny side up," Ron lamented.

"What I'm really wondering about," Harry said, contemplatively, "Is _why_ she would feel the need to be _quite_ this angry..."

Ron shifted so he could look over his folded arms at Harry. The look in his eyes was not kind.

"I mean," Harry continued, smirking. "It's not as though it affected her in..."

"Shut it, Harry," Ron growled. Glancing up and nodding his thanks as Ginny came in, snorted with suppressed laughter, and placed a steaming mug in front of him, turning back to the kitchen and leaving wordlessly.

"But Ron, how could your inebriation _last night_ possibly have any effect on her? I mean..."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Ron sighed.

"No. No, I don't think I am," Harry grinned.

Ron wasn't quite so thick as some people thought he might be. What he _was_ however, was very, very pleased to see his best friend, who normally spent most of his time either stewing morosely or growling at everyone, actually acting... lighthearted for a change.

"I'll tell you what," Ron sat up, blearily reaching for the cup of strong coffee that Ginny had provided him. At least she had shown some sympathy to his condition this morning. "I'll tell you why Mione is so ticked off at me if you tell me..."

Ron paused, looking Harry squarely in the eye. He wanted to see Harry's reaction to this.

"... if you tell me _exactly_ what has put you in such a good mood this morning?"

Harry's eyebrows nearly shot through his hairline before he flushed bright red. He was in the process of stammering out a reply, trying to tell Ron that he really didn't need details of Ron and Hermione's relationship when Ginny returned from the kitchen.

One happy, elated, guilty look was all it took. Ron's eyes narrowed suspiciously, then flared with understanding, then narrowed again with what Harry was sure didn't bode well for his own continued good health.

But then, Ginny smiled at him, and Ron was entirely forgotten. She leaned down and kissed him lightly, lingeringly, and he was sure he was incapable of remembering his own name.

"Good morning," she said softly.

"Good morning," his own voice was low as he gazed at her.

"So, did _you_ sleep well last night, Smidge?" Ron asked, his eyes not leaving Harry.

"Hmm, yes," Ginny grinned as she sat down to her own breakfast. "Yes, I slept... wonderfully. How about you?"

Ron's eyes darted between them before he stood, grumbling about wasting space having four bedrooms, before moving off towards the bathroom.

Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, glancing at Ginny to find her smirking at him, her eyes dancing with glee as she sipped at her tea.

"What?" he asked.

"Ron knows."

"I _know_ Ron knows," Harry said. "Why do you think...?"

"Harry, haven't you figured it out yet?"

"What?"

"Ron... and Mione?"

"I..." Harry glanced at the stairs that Ron had just disappeared up, at the door to the kitchen where Hermione was, then back to Ginny. "You mean...?"

"I mean," she confirmed, nodding.

"I knew that they were... but... you... you mean... Really?"

"Really."

"Ron didn't say anything to me."

"Did you expect him to?"

"Well..." Harry thought for a moment. He and Ron shared pretty much everything. "Yes."

"Have you said anything to him about us?"

"No!" he turned shocked eyes to her. How could she think that he'd talk about... that... with _Ron_?

"Then why would you expect that he'd say anything to you about him and Mione?"

"Because...well... it's different."

"How?"

"You're his sister!"

"And everyone who knows you knows that you look at Mione like a sister. I don't see any difference at all."

"Well... maybe not. But I would have thought _she_ might say something..."

"I certainly wouldn't talk to Ron about us, Harry. Not in that way, anyhow. So I wouldn't expect Mione to talk to you," Ginny said as she broke off an orange segment and popped it into her mouth.

"Did she talk to you?" he asked.

"Briefly," Ginny admitted.

Harry looked at her, suddenly concerned. "Were you comparing notes?"

"Briefly _yesterday_, Harry," Ginny shot back at him shortly.

Harry took a swift drink of his tea. He did not intend to get Ginny angry with him. He'd just been surprised to realize that Ron and Mione's relationship had progressed to the point where...

"Well," he said, standing. "I think I'm going to go shower."

"You do that," Ginny said, standing and taking her plate and cup towards the kitchen, leaving Harry to speculate on what the day might bring with Hermione upset with Ron and Ginny... well, Ginny apparently thinking he was a complete ass.

* * *

Their day, in the end, turned out to be wonderful. Charlie took them on a tour of the dragon pens, and introduced them to several of his favorites. In all, they had about thirty dragons, and they were in various stages of training. The young ones were frisky, the older ones sly, and between there were all manner of personalities. Harry looked on with admiration as the others watched two young horntails playing in a pen.

"I'm sorry," Harry turned to see Charlie standing next to him.

"For?"

"For what I said last night," Charlie admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Charlie..."

"No. I know she's only sixteen, but... but Ginny's been through a lot. She doesn't _act_ sixteen, Harry. She's..."

"She's special, Charlie."

"I know."

"I'm not going to tell you that your sister and I..."

"I don't need to know, Harry."

"Yeah, I think you do," Harry studied the powerfully muscular wizard at his side. Strangely, he felt no fear. "I care a lot about her, Charlie, and I think she feels the same way about me. But I will promise that, if it means my life or hers, I would always choose to keep her safe. You know that, right?"

"I do," Charlie nodded.

"But I can't keep her safe if she's not with me."

"No."

"And her being with me... well..."

"You've been living together for five months, Harry. I'm not stupid," Charlie said dryly. "Just promise me that you'll take care of her."

Harry flushed. "I'd do anything to keep her safe. That's all I can promise."

Charlie nodded shortly, then moved forward to the edge of the pen where the others were standing. Ginny glanced back and saw Harry standing there, quietly watching, and moved back to stand next to him. He pulled her to his side, almost awkwardly. Ginny smiled.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Charlie still giving you the gears?"

"No," Harry denied. "I think we've got that sorted."

"I hope so," Ginny said, watching as Charlie pointed something out to Ron and Mione. "I'd hate to have to bat bogey hex him. After all, I promised you I would control my temper, didn't I?"

Harry laughed. "Don't."

"I won't," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "But I won't promise that my revenge on him won't take another form."

"No need for revenge," Harry replied. "We're sorted. Charlie understands."

"Understands what?"

"That I'm not giving you up. That I'm not sending you home. That we're together, and that's the way we both want it," he said honestly.

Ginny looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," he said quietly, the look in her brown eyes tugging at his heart. "Don't. I've been a total idiot..."

"No, you haven't. You've just been... worried."

Harry was silent, but held her tightly to his side as they turned and retreated with the others up the hill to the encampment.

The following three days were spent learning about the workings of a dragon camp and writing letters home. Charlie had promised to get the letters there without sending them directly from the camp. Harry didn't want anyone knowing that they'd been there. Charlie, apparently, had a friend in Austria who he would send the packet to, with instructions to send it on to Neville Longbottom. In the meantime, Neville would receive a letter from one of Charlie's friends who was returning home to England to expect the package and to take it to Fred and George at the shop in Diagon Alley.

Harry hoped they would get it by Christmas. In the meantime, they had work to do.

* * *

"But we haven't even found all the horcruxes..." Hermione said, obviously upset.

"When we've found them, we need to know where he is, Mione," Harry said calmly. "As soon as we have them, I want this over with. And we need to know that Nagini is with him, or destroy her first."

"But..."

"No buts," Harry said quietly. "You agreed to this, Mione."

Hermione nodded, her cheeks flushing. She knew that she had agreed to take direction form Harry, but this was different.

"It's going to be really dangerous, Harry... finding him, confronting him. I just think it would be better if we..."

"Brought the Order into it?" Harry asked. "It may come to that, Hermione. But I'm not making any promises on that."

"But..."

"Please, Mione," Harry pleaded softly. "Not now."

"So?" Ron asked, sitting back on the low, deep sofa. "What now?"

"We're leaving tomorrow," Harry said softly, tensing when he felt Ginny's body next to him sag with disappointment. "I'm sorry, Gin. We've already stayed here too long."

"I know," she said, nodding. Harry could tell she was close to tears.

"So, tomorrow morning?" Ron asked.

"Early," Harry confirmed.

Ron nodded, then stood. "I'm for bed, then, if we're going to be flyiing off before dawn."

"I'll be right up," Mione said quietly. Harry could tell she was disturbed, as she never, ever made any reference to sharing a room with Ron in front of him.

Ginny stood, as well, avoiding Harry's gaze. He could tell she was near to tears. "I'll... be going up, as well."

"Goodnight," Harry said.

"Goodnight, Ginny," Hermione said, watching her go.

"I'm sorry, Mione," Harry said when she had gone.

"No, you were right," Hermione sighed. "I agreed. It's just..."

"I know it's hard, but they can't help us. Not right now."

"I know."

"So, are we okay?"

Hermione glanced up at him, smiling sadly. "We're okay."

"Good," Harry stood, banking the fire in the fireplace as Hermione headed towards the stairs.

"Harry?" she turned when she reached the bottom.

"Yes?"

"It's... do you feel anything different?"

Harry watched her carefully for a moment, noting the concern and worry in her eyes.

"Yes, I do."

"Is it because of Ginny?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I don't think so. I think that..."

"What?"

"I think it's Voldemort," Harry said softly. "I think... I think that something is... being planned."

"What?"

"I think he knows that we're here."

Hermione's eyes rounded.

"Not _here_ here..." Harry continued. "Not here with Charlie... but I think he knows that we've been in Albania. I think he knows that we've found the cup, that we've been to the orphanage, that we did research in London..."

"You think he's tracking _our_ movements?"

"Maybe," Harry agreed. "But it's more that I think he knows that we're up to something. He had to know that I'd go after the horcruxes, after finding out how Dumbledore died. He'd be stupid not to, and he's not stupid. I think that we have to understand that Voldemort knows, because Snape knew that Dumbledore had figured it out, and because Dumbledore trusted Snape... well."

"Harry, I'm still finding it hard to believe that..."

"I know that you've always said that Snape wasn't as bad as Ron and I thought, Hermione, but you have to understand, that all adults are _not _trustworthy, just because they hold a position of authority. Didn't Fudge prove that to you? Or Umbridge?"

"That's not what..."

"I think it is," Harry said quietly. "I watched Snape kill him, Hermione. I watched him as he turned on Dumbledore and threw the _Avada Kedavra_ at him... I watched as he turned from the wall, and left the tower... not an ounce of remorse was there. I saw Dumbledore's body at the base of the tower, and all for nothing. All for a fake locket, all for something that..."

"Harry..."

"Hermione," Harry interrupted her. "I love you like a sister. But please, don't mention this to me again. Snape is... if I ever find him..."

"I understand, Harry," Hermione said sadly. "I do understand."

Harry stared into the fire, getting his temper under control for a moment. When he turned back to the stairs, she was gone.

* * *

Harry sat in his own room, quietly. Ginny hadn't been there when he got there, as she had been the past three nights. He knew she was upset about leaving, but he knew that they had to. Every minute they stayed increased the chances of them being found there, and Harry wouldn't risk that. Not for anything.

He'd been sitting there an hour when he heard the door open behind him, and turned to find Ginny standing, her back to the now-closed door.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"For what?"

"Sulking," she admitted. "I really don't want to leave."

"We have to, Ginny," Harry said, looking down at the parchment he'd been writing on.

"I know. I was being unreasonable..."

"No, you weren't. We all would like to be with family at Christmas."

"But I will be," Ginny shrugged. "I'll be with Ron and Hermione... and you."

"Gin..."

"That's all I need, Harry. Honestly, it is. I'd love to be with my mum and dad, my brothers... for Christmas. But, all I _need_ is right here."

Harry stood, held his arms out to her, and she flew into them, sobbing.

"I'm sorry we can't stay, Gin," he whispered into her hair. "But every minute we're here we run the risk of someone finding us, and if that someone is Voldemort, or one of his death eaters, I'd never forgive myself, Ginny."

"So, let's go," she said. "We can pack and be gone within the hour. You know we can."

"I think we can take the time to get a decent night's rest," Harry smiled. "Besides, do _you_ want to interrupt Ron and Mione?"

"Eww," she grimaced, looking up at him. "Well, as long as we're stuck here..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm sure we could find something to make the next few hours pass more... pleasantly?"

Harry smiled, and kissed her. If they slept late, well, too bad.

* * *

When it came to it, Harry wasn't the first one up. Ron was. Apparently thinking he'd be helpful and wake everyone, he'd come to Harry's room and shaken him awake. Harry sat up, looking for his glasses.

"Harry, time to be up... and would you mind explaining what _my sister is doing in your bed_?"

"Get stuffed, Ron," Ginny's voice came from the darkness on the other side of the bed.

"Ginny..."

"Did Mione sleep well, Ron?" she shot back before he could comment.

Harry couldn't see Ron's face in the darkness, but he was absolutely certain that he was as Weasley red as Weasley red got.

"That's _not...!"_

"Of course it is. Now get out," Ginny threw her legs over the side of the bed, and Ron hesitated only a few seconds before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"Ginny, I think he's upset," Harry said.

"You think?" she chuckled. "He'll get over it."

"Will he?"

"Harry," she turned back to him. He could see the curve of her breast in the dim light. "Ron's been trying to get us together for years. Just because he's now overreacting to the reality of our being together doesn't change how I feel about you. Does it change how you feel about me?"

"No," he said quietly. "I just don't want him to be... difficult."

"He'll get over it," she responded dryly, standing and pulling on her clothes. "Now, what needs to be done before we can leave?"

They were fully packed before six. Harry was stowing the poles in his pack when Ron approached.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"For?"

"For... barging in on you two. For.."

"Forget it, Ron," Harry stood.

"I can't, Harry. I'm glad you're together. I guess I just didn't think that you'd be... _together_... you know?"

"I know. I'm sorry you're upset, but..."

"No," Ron said quickly. "Not upset... just... surprised."

"Surprised?"

"I didn't really take into consideration..."

"What?"

"The fact that you feel about her the same way I feel about Mione," Ron said. "I admit that I have... thoughts... about Mione, that I don't want to think about _anyone_ having about my sister, and it bothers me that you two have been together... _like that_, and I didn't clue in..."

"It's only been..." Harry flushed. He really didn't care to share with Ron these details. "It's not been for that long, Ron."

"I know," Ron said. "It couldn't have been. It's been too... well, I might not clue in as quickly as others, but I'm not _dense_, you know."

"I know."

"So, are we ready?"

Goodbyes were said to a sleepy Charlie, and letters handed over for delivery, and then they were gone. Harry led them off into the dark, the second eldest Weasley sibling watching them go, and it was the last anyone saw of them for nearly two months.

* * *

_Okay, folks – I've taken what others have had to say about this review response business, and I've decided to chance it. I will be responding as of next chapter, but right now, I just want to get THIS chapter up._

_Ciao until next time!_

_CQ_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Contact

Remus Lupin was normally a very patient man, his history and personal experiences had required him to learn patience at a young age, but this morning, that patience was being sorely tested.

"I just don't understand...!" Molly Weasley sobbed into her hands at the table. Grimmauld Place had been witness to many of Molly's tears over the past few months, and Remus would happily have strangled young Harry if given the chance.

Tonks, his wife of six months, sat next to the forlorn woman at the table, stroking her back comfortingly. Once, early on, she had attempted to console Molly by changing her looks to look like Ginny, right down to the thin braid above her ear and the smattering of freckles across her nose. It had been an exceptionally good likeness.

That had been a very, very bad day. Remus shuddered as he remembered it, before being brought back to the present by Molly's wailing voice.

"I don't understand... they disappeared, then nothing for four months, then a one page letter saying they're fine. _One page!_ And now nothing for two months. Remus, you're _sure_ you haven't heard from them?"

"No, Molly, I haven't. I'm as upset as you are..."

"_You _don't have two children out there!" she said indignantly, her brown eyes snapping, and Remus felt a stirring of anger towards her.

"No," Remus mentally counted to ten. "I have Harry, and also Hermione... and I care about Ron and Ginny, too, Molly."

"Oh, of course you do!" Molly wailed again. "Remus, I'm just so _worried_!"

"I know, Mollly, but there is nothing we can do until they see fit to inform us of where they are."

"That Longbottom boy... he wouldn't tell me anything. His grandmother kicked me out! _Me!_ Can you believe that?"

Remus, who was beginning to think that asking Molly to go home might not be such a bad idea, rubbed his hand across his forehead. Unfortunately, 'home' was Potter Manor. The Burrow had been destroyed three days after the Weasley's had left it, five days after the four had disappeared last summer.

"Molly," Tonks glanced up at Remus. "We know they're fine... or we would have heard something. You know that Harry will..."

"I'm beginning to wonder if anyone knows what Harry will do," Molly said stiffly. "That boy..."

"He's not a boy, Molly," Remus said, the first thread of anger lacing his words. "You know as well as we do what he needs to do. And you know, as well as we do, that Ron and the others wouldn't let him do it alone, even if he tried. They're all equally responsible."

"Irresponsible," Molly said, standing. "I'd best be getting back. Arthur will be there shortly, and..."

"Molly..." Tonks shot a glance at Remus, then turned back to the older woman.

"Thank you, Nymphadora. I appreciate your allowing me to talk about this to you. Sometimes I think that you're the only one who understands..."

And with that, Molly flooed away. Remus sighed.

"Well, that went well," Tonks snorted.

"Why can't she...?"

"Because she's a mother, because they're her children, because mothers worry about their children, and Molly has more reason than most to worry."

"Where the hell are they, Nymph?" Remus asked hoarsely as he pulled her into his arms, the swell of her belly wedged between them. "I swear, I could kill him..."

"No, you wouldn't. They'll turn up when they're ready to, Remus. You know Harry, he only sees what he has to do, and he'd never expect anyone to worry about him."

"That bloody letter," Remus sighed. "Could he have been any more cagey about what the hell they were doing?"

"No," Tonks snorted. "But it was typically Harry. I'd never want to play poker with him."

At that moment, the floo flared, and a voice called out. "Professor Lupin?"

"Longbottom?" Remus pulled away from Tonks and moved around the table to be able to see the fire. Crouching down, he saw Neville Longbottom's head poking through the green flames. "Neville, what on earth...?"

"Professor, I need to come through. Is it convenient?"

"Of course..."

A moment later, there was a larger flare of green flame, and Neville Longbottom walked into the room, his robes flowing out behind him.

"Professor Lupin, I'm sorry... I don't mean to disturb you, but I was told to be here..."

"By who?" Remus looked at him oddly. The Longbottom boy had grown over the years. He was still rather portly, but was tall with it. His round face had matured, his jaw and cheekbones firming, and his short brown hair looked as though he'd been running his hands through it repeatedly.

"Who?" Neville looked at him oddly. "Why, Harry, of course!"

"Neville, what are you talking about?"

"Harry didn't tell you?"

"Neville, I haven't seen Harry since his birthday last summer," Remus said. "Have you?"

"No!" Neville said, blushing. "Of course not, they've been... well, Harry didn't say anything to you in his letter?"

"About what?"

"About my being here today?"

"No, should he have?"

Neville looked confused for a moment. "I don't... well, in his letter to me, he told me to be here at three o'clock in the afternoon on the twenty eighth of February, that he'd be in touch then."

"It's two forty five," Remus glanced at the clock. "Harry said he'd be in touch _here_?"

"Well, he told me to be here," Neville's face screwed up as he thought. "And that he'd be in touch. I suppose I assumed that that meant he'd be in touch _here_. I mean, he _could_ have meant..."

Tonks and Remus exchanged looks.

"They're coming home," Remus said quietly to his wife. "Where is Bill? The charms..."

"I'll find him," Tonks said, quickly moving to the floo.

"Professor Lupin?" Neville looked oddly at him.

"I haven't been a professor in four years, Neville. Call me Remus, please."

"R-Remus..." Neville stuttered. "What do you think... why would Harry want me here?"

"Obviously he has something he needs you to be here for," Remus smiled gently. "Sit down, Neville, and tell me about this letter."

"When I got the packet of letters that they sent, you know, before Christmas... from that bloke in Austria... well, the packet was all wrapped up, and on top was a letter to me."

"Yes?"

"Well, I did what it said, Harry said to not speak of it to anyone, ever. To forget that I'd even gotten a letter until today. Until the twenty-eighth of February. I was to just deliver the package to the twins at the shop, not to leave it... but I had to deliver it into Fred Weasley's hands. I did that, although it was hard to tell them apart, and then I went home, just like the letter told me to. I put it out of my mind until this morning. I knew this morning that I had to come here today. I assumed that Harry would have told you."

"Harry's letter to me congratulated me on my marriage and told me to remain here with Tonks unless we thought it was becoming too dangerous, in which case we were to go to the Weasley twins and tell them we had to leave. Rather cryptic, I know, but..."

"Just like Harry," Neville said. "It not that...I mean... I'd do whatever Harry asked of me. But sometimes..."

"He doesn't think anyone would be interested in his motives, I know," Remus said dryly, glancing at the clock again. "Until we hear from Harry, Neville, I think we need to try to not speculate. No one needs to hear anything, right?"

"I'm not going anyplace, Pro... Remus," Neville corrected himself, then continued quietly. "I just wanted to go with him, like Ron did."

"I'm sure that Harry considered it, Neville, but you need to understand that Harry probably didn't ask the others to go with him."

"Ron and Hermione wouldn't have let him go alone," Neville said quietly. "Nor Ginny."

"No," Remus sighed.

There was a flare at the fireplace and Tonks walked into the room, Bill Weasley close behind her.

"Remus? What's going on?"

"Didn't Nymph...?"

"I didn't say anything, Remus," Tonks said quietly. "He was at the Manor. I thought it would be best to keep it quiet."

"Good," Remus agreed instantly. "It would appear, Bill, that the runaways are about to return. Will they be able to find the place since we reset the fidelius charm?"

Bill's eyes glowed, then he smiled. "They're coming home? How do you know?"

"Young Neville here had a message to come here today at three, that Harry would be in touch."

"In touch?" Bill glanced at Neville.

"That... that's what he said," Neville swallowed nervously.

"The charms?" Remus drew Bill's attention back. He was used to Bill's scars from the attack he'd suffered at Hogwarts last year, but young Neville wasn't. Bill looked rather... intimidating... now.

"Harry owns the house, Remus, he'll be able to find it. If it hasn't occurred to him that we would have changed the fidelius after Snape..." Bill sighed. "Well, he'll still be able to find it. The others... well, when they can't see it, he'll know what to do. But..."

"But?"

"But," Bill continued. "Do we know for sure that 'in contact' means actually coming here?"

"What else _could _it mean?" Remus looked at him oddly.

"Well..." Bill began, only to be interrupted by a tapping at the window.

"That's Hedwig!" Tonks cried, rushing to push the window open to admit the snowy owl. Hedwig looked around the room, then flew over to the table in front of Neville, and politely held out her leg, and the package tied there.

Neville glanced around nervously, then untied the package, pausing from opening it as Hedwig turned and flew back through the window.

"Well," Remus smiled. "It would appear that I was wrong. What does it say, Neville?"

"It..." Nevilled glanced up nervously. "It asks that you and Mrs Lupin and... and... Bill Weasley... and I... use this..." Neville poked at the book that had been wrapped in the letter. "It's a..."

"Portkey," Bill smiled.

"How did they know that you were here?" Tonks asked.

"What?"

"How did they know that you were here, Bill?"

"Harry would have known that security would have changed on the house, and he'd assume that Bill would have done it. As soon as Neville arrived..."

"No," Neville glanced back down at the letter. "Harry says that he knows it might take a few minutes to collect Bill, but he especially wants him to come along, and that it's important that you come, as well, Remus. He says..."

Neville flushed, glanced up at Tonks, then back down at the letter again.

"What?"

"He says that he understands that pregnancy can make travelling difficult, so if Mrs Lupin doesn't wish to come along..."

"The little prat," Tonks grumbled. "Not come along, indeed!"

"I don't know if you should, Nymph," Remus said quietly.

"What?"

"I mean, all we know is that Harry..."

"Not come? You're out of your tree if you think I'm not coming."

"Nymph," Remus looked at her pleadingly, touched her distended belly, then spoke. "Please?"

"I think not," Tonks said. "But I love you for wanting me to stay behind."

"Nymph, please..."

"Can it, Moony," she said, a little more firmly this time. "I'm coming."

And she did. Without further discussion, all four reached out and touched the book, and Neville quietly said the charm.

"Take us there," he said, and all four disappeared from the room.

* * *

_Okay, so I've decided that there are enough fanfiction sites out there that if responding to my reviewers gets me kicked off this one, well, I'll be sad, but not broken. So I'm going to do the review responses and damn the torpedoes._

_Speaking of which, one of those "other" fanfic sites has honored me in a wonderful way. Wizardtales dot net has asked me to do an "author chat" -- this Thursday (August 18) at 7:30 pm EST. It's a wonderful site, has a forum and chat rooms, and that's where I'll be, ready to answer your questions and discuss fanfiction with anyone who cares to join us. I'm really, really excited about this._

_Now, on to my lovely reviewers!_

_**FreedomStar:** Saw it – that's what started me asking questions, actually, but I can't seem to get any more information than what is in it. Do you know who the writer in question was?_

_**BlueClover13:** Thanks for the concrit. I will definitely pay more attention there!_

_**OldCrow:** Ron is one of my favorite characters to write. He's so easy to manipulate and his reactions are easy to write to inject some humor into any situation._

_**ThePoeticMadman:** As much as I would like to tell you, that would be telling, wouldn't it? LOL. _

_**Doffy99:** Apparently the site managers don't like it. I think it has something to do with space considerations, but I don't know._

_**Ginny2026:** Wow, thanks!_

_**LarnaMandrea:** Someone had to convert you!_

_**EmmelineBlack:** Of course I care – that's why I like doing the review response thing! I like the fact that sites like this allow us to interact with our readers. It's sad that it has become a problem._

_**Mike:** They haven't gone back there because Harry's never been there, and when he heard about Potter Manor while looking for a "safe" place to move the occupants of the Burrow to, he felt it would be better if he DIDN'T see it, in order to ensure the safety of those being moved there. _

_**Manatheron:** I'm sure that Ginny considered that._

_**Alex:** Mwahauaha! Another convert... I must update the ledgers..._

_**OrlaPotter:** Yes, they are. And it always happens that way because I am a diehard H/G shipper, and I write HP for more mature readers... I think it's likely that any two people this age who feel this way about each other and are thrown into this type of situation are probably going to do rather more than innocent exploration. Just my take – not everyone shares it (and thank God!), but that's that._

_**Alix33:** A banknote is like a cashier's cheque... a note from the bank honoring a certain amount of money._

_**And ALL the rest of you who have reviewed so encouragingly, thank you so much:** nandhp, ProfessorMoody, HakusoRurouni, SugarBear68, volleypickle16, Skateforever, jouve25, Bean3769, Draco'sWifeLover, faeriedoll722, LilyLightening, DracisTran, YelloWitchGrl, WolfsScream, Aimee, LittleTom45, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, hpgwrwhg4ever, RyougaZell, Kordolin, AlliBaby, BluntbutHonest, vt, azntgr01, genuinescience, WitchofDarkness, CliveTalbert, HarryPassionFan, JoannaPotter, DragonClawz54, HuggieBear, SpaceHog26, Harry/GinnyMatchmaker, Aakanksha, HarryGinnyfan23, life2me, Lacyl, TDSM, GryffindorGirl12, joeyandpaceyforever, DaBear, kizzebee, pcb_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: The Return

The four of them sat in a dim, dated room, with dark walls and darker furniture. Ron and Hermione lounged on the sofa, Hermione reading with her legs draped over Ron's lap. Ron played absently with her bare toes while he carefully looked at a wizard's chess board set up in front of him on the coffee table. Harry sat across from him in a large armchair, so old and abused that the stuffing was popping out in many places.

"They should be here soon," Ginny said, pressing her hand against his arm comfortingly from where she sat on the arm of the chair. Harry nodded, unable to concentrate on the game that Ron had insisted on to keep his mind off their prospective visitors until they arrived.

"I know," Harry agreed, running a hand through his messy hair.

It had been some time since he had felt this distracted. For too long they'd been so focussed on what they had to do, despite not having any success. Since before Christmas they'd been travelling, looking, following false leads, quietly questioning muggle villagers throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Harry was frustrated. Nothing. Over six months of this, and still they were, essentially, no further ahead than they'd been after their first week. Indeed, they'd traced Tom Riddle's movements – quite accurately, he thought. They'd even come across several places where it would have made sense for Voldemort to leave part of his soul, but there had been nothing. They'd found nothing. Harry was beginning to understand why Dumbledore, with all of his resources, all of his years of experience, and superior skill, had only found one.

It was time for him to admit that they needed help, outside help. And it was very, very disconcerting to find himself in a situation where he was nervous about the outcome.

"I just don't know what to say..."

"Well, most people like to start with something light, like 'hi, mate, how have you been?'," Ron said, smiling, and moving forward, over Hermione's bent knees to move his bishop. "Check. But seeing as you're not the light type, Harry, how about..."

But he was suddenly cut off by a loud popping noise. All four of them turned to see Remus, Tonks, Bill and Neville Longbottom looking around, disoriented. As they watched, Neville braced a hand against Bill's arm, righting himself as he would have fallen over.

"So," Harry stood. "You made it."

"Harry Potter!" Tonks strode across the rather shabby lounge, stopping in front of him and looking furiously up at him. She was almost shaking with anger. "How _dare_ you worry us all like that! I ought to..."

"Wow, Tonks," Ron smirked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "You could give lessons to Mum."

Tonks turned her fury on Ron, who paled and shrank back from her obvious anger.

"Your _mother_ is worried _sick_! She's been at Grimmauld Place nearly every day, crying her eyes out, not sleeping..."

"Tonks..." Harry began, only to have the firebrand turn back to him, her purple eyes blazing.

"_Lupin_!" she spat.

"I... sorry?"

"It's _Lupin_, Harry! On top of everything else," she hit his chest with her small fist, emphasizing every word. "You... missed... our... wedding!"

"Tonks, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry!" she glared at him. "You...!"

"I'm sorry," Harry spread his hands in a gesture of defeat, only to have Tonks fling her arms around him and begin to sob into his chest. Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her, looking helplessly at Remus.

"Things have been rather... emotional, Harry," Remus said by way of explanation. "Which isn't to say that I'm any more pleased with you than she is. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I had to finish what Dumbledore began, Remus. I was thinking that it was time we finished this war, and without the horcruxes, we can't do that."

"Hor...?" Remus looked oddly at him, his eyes narrowed. Bill looked uncomfortable.

"Horcruxes," Harry said. "Six of them."

"Did you find them?"

"In a minute, Remus!" Tonks glanced around at the others. "You're okay? All of you?"

"We're fine," Hermione said.

"Molly is..."

"Mum is going to have to get over it," Ginny said softly. "We've only done what we had to do."

"You need to owl her," Tonks turned her bright violet eyes on Hermione, the most reasonable of the group, in her opinion. "She's going spare."

Hermione and Ginny both looked at Harry, much to Tonks' surprise.

"We'll send a letter on shortly, Tonks," Harry said gently. "We've not been able to until now."

"Why not?" Neville asked, before flushing. "I mean..."

"Because they didn't want their owl followed," Bill said gently, looking directly at Harry. "Constant..."

",vigilance," Harry finished for him, smiling. "Right."

"Harry, I'm pleased that you're all well, but I really think..."

"Right... the horcruxes," Harry said, smiling rather unsurely down at Tonks as she pulled away from him. "One was the diary."

"Diary?" Remus looked toward Ginny and back again.

"Yes," Ginny said. "That diary. The one Harry destroyed when he rescued me in the Chamber."

"So there are five more?" Bill asked, sitting down as he glanced around the rather old, rather worn room. He had no idea where they were, but was reasonably sure it was England. The portkey hadn't taken that long. They could even be in London.

"The second was the ring that Dumbledore had," Harry said quietly. "He destroyed it."

"And?" Neville looked pale.

"There are four others. We've been looking for them."

"And did you find them?" Remus asked, noting silently that Harry hadn't clarified how many _had_ been destroyed.

"One of them," Harry nodded.

"What?" Neville leaned forward. "Where?"

"A golden cup... a cup that originally belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, and that Tom Riddle stole from an elderly witch while he was working for Borgin and Burkes years ago."

"And the others?"

"We think that one is Nagini, Voldemort's... familiar," Harry continued. "And that one is a locket... a locket that belonged to Tom Riddle's mother. There is another. Dumbledore thought that it was something that belonged to either Rowena Ravenclaw or Godric Gryffindor..."

"The sword?" Remus asked.

"No. At least, Dumbledore didn't think so," Harry said.

"But what..." Tonks swallowed, moving into Remus' arms as Ginny moved closer to Harry. "What are these things?"

Harry sat back down, indicating the others should do so, as well. Ginny curled up next to him in the wide, shabby, overstuffed chair. Without seeming to think about it, he wrapped an arm around her as she fitted herself to his side.

"Horcruxes?" Harry smiled sadly. "They're why he can't die."

"They're pieces of Voldemort's soul," Ron explained.

"The pieces we have to find before we can confront him again," Harry said. "It's how he managed to survive when the Killing Curse he threw at me rebounded and hit him. He's split his soul..."

"Split?" Neville looked ill. "By choice?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "By choice. As a form of immortality."

"So, because he had created these Horcruxes," Harry continued. "If we confront him before we've collected and destroyed all of them, it will be just like last time. We won't be able to kill him, and eventually, we'll have to deal with all of this all over again. It will never be over."

"And you've found one of them?" Remus asked, his face even paler than usual.

"One, in addition to the two that we know have already been destroyed," Harry confirmed. "Dumbledore..."

"What, Harry?" Remus said gently at Harry's pause.

"That's what happened that night. The night he died. He and I had gone to a cave. In Wales, I think. We found... well, we thought we'd found one. A locket..."

"But?"

Harry was silent for a moment, unable to speak. Dumbledore's death was still so fresh in his mind. Snape... Malfoy... He could hardly believe it had been the better part of a year.

Drawn back from his thoughts by the feel of a small hand squeezing his own, he looked down into the sad brown eyes of Ginny Weasley. She nodded encouragingly.

"I'm sorry," Harry drew his attention back to Remus. "It's still difficult..."

"It's okay, Harry," Remus replied, his watery blue eyes taking in everything. "I understand."

"The locket had already been taken. Someone took it and left a fake... a replacement, along with a note to Voldemort telling him what they'd done. Dumbledore died for nothing... for a fake."

"Who?" Remus asked. His eyes, never leaving Harry's, told Harry that he was aware that there was more. Much more.

"Someone who was a Death Eater... someone who changed their mind, and decided to try to throw a spanner in Voldemort's works..."

"_Who?_" Remus insisted.

"The initials on the note were RAB."

"R..." Remus' eyes widened with understanding.

"We think that he returned with the real locket to Black Manor," Hermione said, watching Remus closely.

"That son of a..."

"Remus, if Sirius' brother did this," Ginny said. "If he _is_ RAB, then it means that he turned on Voldemort. He came back and..." she glanced worriedly up at Harry.

"And that the locket he took from the cave," Harry continued. "The _real_ horcrux, holding a piece of Voldemort's soul, is probably somewhere in Grimmauld Place."

"Let's go," said Tonks, standing.

"Nymph," Remus stilled her with a hand on her arm. "We don't even know what it looks like."

"Actually, we do," Harry said.

"You do?" Remus paused, looking at him.

"No," Harry glanced at the others. "_We_ do."

"You... how?"

"Pensieve," Ron shrugged. "Dumbledore showed Harry, Harry showed us."

"You have some of Dumbledore's memories?"

"What he showed me," Harry confirmed.

"You... where?"

"The memory of the memory," Harry said, tapping his temple.

"You..." Remus shook his head. "Let me get this straight. Dumbledore shared a memory with you in his pensieve and you then took the memory of the _memory_ and...?"

"And shared it with us, yes," Hermione confirmed.

Remus looked at him oddly, then shared a rather cryptic look with Bill, who shrugged.

"Why didn't you just come?" Neville asked. "Why the note, why... call us to you?"

Harry glanced at Bill. Bill smiled.

"Because they weren't sure that it was safe," Bill explained.

"I wasn't completely sure you were at Grimmauld Place... I was concerned that, even if you were, you may have changed the wards."

"We did, with Snape..." Bill paused. "Well, in any case, it can't be warded against you, Harry. You own it."

"Dumbledore said that Bellatrix Lestrange would contest it."

"And she did. She tried, anyhow," Bill said.

"And?"

"And two things," Bill said. "The Ministry didn't agree that a convicted Death Eater had a right to Sirius' property, especially as she was the one who killed him, nor did the wife or son of another convicted Death Eater sitting in Azkaban. Nor were they willing to void a wizard's will on the basis of the Black family traditions, when Sirius had made it legally clear who was to be his heir. Besides..."

"Besides?"

"She would have had to find the bloody place, first," Tonks growled, with more than a little bit of force.

"The wards?"

"Wouldn't recognize her as the owner when you are, Harry."

"I see," Harry said, shifting uncomfortably. "Well, I didn't fancy arriving there with the possibility of a bunch of Death Eaters as a welcoming committee."

"That could rather put a crimp in your day," Ron agreed.

"And if Snape had been there, I'm not entirely sure I'd have been able to resist doing something... inadvisable," Harry muttered.

"Harry... about that..." Remus looked rather out of sorts.

"Don't start, Remus," Harry said in a low voice. It wasn't a tone that Remus had ever heard from him before. In his time away he had changed.

"Harry..."

"I mean it, Remus. Don't tell me that Dumbledore trusted him, so he can't be as bad as..." Harry's eyes filled with tears as he lost his ability to speak for a moment. "Dumbledore died because of that bit of bad judgement. If I ever get the opportunity, I swear to Merlin that I will make both Snape and Malfoy pay for their parts in that. And from this moment forward, I refuse to hear how Snape has been misunderstood."

"I wasn't going to say anything of the sort, Harry," Remus replied sadly. "I just wanted to say how very sorry I am about what I said to you when you came to me with your concerns about Snape. I... I had faith that Dumbledore knew what he was doing. I believed that we didn't _need_ to know everything he knew, we only had to follow orders. I believed that his judgement was better than my own, that we were all... wrong. Unfortunately, it was Dumbledore who was wrong. It cost him his life. It cost me a dear friend. It cost you a much-needed mentor..."

"And it will cost Snape his life if I have my way," Ron said angrily. "Bloody git."

"Ron..." Hermione frowned at him.

"Don't worry, Mione," Ron wrapped a conciliatory arm around her and waited for her to relax against him before continuing. "I promise to make it look like self defense."

Harry couldn't help but smile, but suppressed it quickly.

Glancing away from the couple, his eyes lit on Bill, who was staring thoughtfully at Ron and Hermione as well. As Harry watched, Bill turned to glance between him and Ginny. Harry met his eyes squarely, without smiling. Bill stared hard at him for a moment before he tore his eyes away, addressing Ginny.

"Smidge, where have you been? It's been six months."

"I've been with Harry, Bill," Ginny said firmly. "I've been safe, but doing what needed to be done."

"And now?" Bill asked, glancing at Ron. "Now, you're back? For good?"

The eldest Weasley sibling was rather surprised when both Ginny and Ron looked to Harry to answer this.

"We have a job to do, Bill," Ginny said after exchanging some message with Harry with only her eyes. "We'll be here until we need to leave."

"And what about Mum and Dad?" Bill asked. "They've been worried sick!"

"You dad knew what we had to do, Bill," Hermione said. "He knew we were leaving. You know that, you were there."

"That doesn't mean that he hasn't been as worried as the rest of us," Bill said shortly. "He might have accepted it better, but he's still been worried. And after Percy..."

Bill stopped, obviously overcome. He turned away, but not before Harry saw the telltale brightness of his eyes. He'd never seen Bill so emotional.

"I'm sorry, Bill," Harry said, his voice quiet and full of regret. He felt Ginny shift next to him, and sighed. "If..."

"There is no 'if', Harry," Neville spoke firmly. "Everyone has lost family in this. Everyone has to make sacrifices to bring about the end of this. You have something you have to do. You may or may not be back for good, but the job isn't done. Obviously you called us here because you need something to do that. What do we need to do to finish it?"

Harry looked to the other boy. If things had been normal, he and Neville, and Ron, would be sharing a dorm room right now, preparing for their NEWTs...

But things weren't normal. Things were as far away from normal as it was possible to be, actually. Yet here was Neville, believed by many to be the weakest wizard in their year, offering his help. Neville Longbottom wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.

"You're right, Nev," Harry said. "I need help. And it's going to be dangerous."

"When has being around you been anything but, Harry?" Neville tried for a smile, which became rather more of a grimace. "Being your friend has never been exactly safe, Harry, but I'm no coward."

"I know, Nev," Harry agreed. "Thank you."

"Okay, why did you call us here, then? And just where in bloody hell is 'here', anyhow?"

"It's safer if you don't know that," Harry said. "Much safer. Hermione?"

"I've made these," Hermione pulled out four small stones. "They're portkeys for each of you. The incantation is simply, 'take me there' and it will bring you directly here. Before you ask, no, no one else can use them. It wouldn't be advisable for them to try."

Tonks looked up, obviously surprised that Hermione had read her mind.

"So, why?" Remus asked. "You need us to do something, obviously?"

"We need help, Remus," Harry said. "We're fully aware that we're being looked for... considered missing. By Voldemort as well as the Ministry. The last months it hasn't mattered..."

"Because you've not even been in the country," Bill pointed out.

Harry turned and looked at him, wondering how he knew that.

"Charlie and I have had our ways of communicating for years, Harry."

"I told him...!"

"It was perfectly safe. A code we developed, when we were kids. No one else even knew about it until now. As far as anyone intercepting our owls could have known, I've been losing money on a bad investment and Charlie has been experiencing a particularly nasty case of Wizard's Itch."

Ginny laughed, not able to stop herself, and Ron looked on in amazement. "I always bloody wondered how you two..."

"Well, no more," Harry interrupted, as close to angry as the others had seen him in some time. "Not about us. I'll keep in touch with Charlie myself, but no more talk between you about this. Please."

"So, what do you need from us?" Neville repeated.

"Well, first thing we need to do is find that locket," Harry said. "It's got to be in Grimmauld Place somewhere."

"Why?"

"Where else would he have hidden it?" Ron asked.

"Where else _was_ he?" Hermione asked. "That's what we need to know. We know that the locket was last in the possession of a wizard or witch..."

Ron snorted, only to be silenced by a glare from Hermione.

"A wizard or _witch_," she continued. "With the initials RAB. Regulus A Black is the only wizard we can identify who fits."

"But it might not be him," pointed out Tonks. "There has to have been another wizard... or witch... in the past twenty years, with those initials."

"No," Ron agreed, his eyes suddenly lighting in a way that had become more and more pronounced over the last six months. "It might not be him. Which means we have to find out who else it _could_ be. Harry?"

"I need you to do some research, Tonks," Harry spoke. "I need you to find out for us who else RAB _could_ be."

Tonks nodded. "I can do that. There are census records... voting records... it's all publicly available at the Ministry."

"No one can know _what_ you're looking for, Tonks," Hermione warned.

"Me? I'm looking for a... unique... name for my baby, aren't I?" she grinned, rubbing a hand over her stomach.

Hermione wrote something down on the parchment she held.

"We have to find that locket," Harry continued. "The one that Regulus... if it was him... took away from that cave. We neeed to find it and destroy it."

"Which brings up, Harry..." Hermione looked up.

"One thing at a time, Mione," Harry said. "Remus, you live there. You need to search the house."

"Done," Remus nodded.

"And..."

"And?"

"You're still the executor of Sirius' will, right? And... somehow... my guardian?"

"Technically, yes. Although, you're of age now."

"So you can access my vaults? Take care of any financial needs... for anyone here, from them?"

"Yes, if I have your authorization."

"What do I need to do to give you that?"

"Bill?" Remus turned to him.

"You have to send notification to the goblins that Remus has power of attorney over your assets."

"An owl?" Harry asked.

"Do you really want Hedwig traced?"

"No."

"Give Remus a letter before we leave, Harry. The goblins have their ways of authenticating things, they'll know it's from you. And you can be assured that they would die before they informed the Ministry, or anyone else, for that matter."

Harry nodded, turning to Hermione. She nodded at him, then selected a fresh sheet of parchment and began writing hurriedly. Remus watched this in awe.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"What?"

"Communicate without talking," Neville said. "I've been watching it, too."

"I... we..." Harry looked at Hermione, then Ron, and shrugged. "I guess it comes from living together. Okay, what else?"

"Harry?" Hermione looked up meaningfully, glanced at Bill, and back again, nodding.

"Right," Harry slid out from under Ginny's legs and stood, and began pacing. "There is something... Bill, I'm hoping you can help us here."

"What is it, Harry?"

"The horcruxes hold a piece of Voldemort's soul," Harry explained. "The spell used to accomplish this requires a death. The murder of, for all intents and purposes, an innocent. For each of the horcruxes, Voldemort killed an innocent to accomplish the spell to bind a piece of his soul to something, to an object. A horcrux."

Everyone in the room but Bill shuddered. Bill had been a curse-breaker. He had been around darker magic than any of them, except, perhaps, Harry. Bill's gaze was steady.

"Dumbledore managed to destroy one of the horcruxes... the ring. However, it wasn't without cost. He lost a hand doing it. The diary... well, the diary took something more... the tooth of a basilisk. I think that Fawkes' presence protected Ginny and I in some way, or it would have been... much worse."

"Go on," Bill said as Harry paused.

"We're going to have to destroy four more. I'd like to destroy them all at the same time, keeping him from splitting his soul any further, if that's possible. I don't think it is, but... well, I need to know how to destroy them, Bill. And I'm pretty sure that you can tell me."

Bill was silent for so long that Harry thought he was going to refuse. But then, he sighed, looked down at his hands, and nodded.

"It's not going to be easy," Bill said quietly. "And it's going to require a sacrifice."

"What kind of sacrifice?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, Harry. I've only dealt with horcruxes a couple of times..." Bill didn't seem to respond to the shocked gasps around the room. "And every time it's been different. Total and complete loyalty to the cause that required their destruction has always been necessary. Once, it required the death of the wizard casting the spell. Another time..."

"You were there with Dumbledore when he destroyed the ring," Harry said.

"I was," Bill nodded. "But no one else knows that."

"It won't leave this room, Bill."

"It required him to sacrifice... well... he did it willingly. What I'm saying, Harry, is I don't know what it will require in the end, or if it will require a different sacrifice for each of the remaining horcruxes. They're rather... unpredictable. If we destroy them all at once, it may take only one. I just don't know."

"I need you to work with Hermione, Bill," Harry said. "I need the two of you to figure out what will have to be done, and how we can do it in the safest way possible. You need to develop some sort of a spell to destroy them."

Bill said no more, merely nodded.

Hermione stood, and walked over to Harry, a piece of parchment and a quill in her hands. "Here, Harry, sign this."

Harry read it over quickly, then signed it on the low coffee table in front of the sofa. He handed it back to her, and she tapped it with her wand, then handed it to Remus.

"This gives you power of attorney over all of Harry's assets, Remus," Hermione looked at him levelly.

Remus silently took the parchment and rolled it up, stashing it in his robes. "I'll take care of it, Harry. What else?"

"The locket was last in the possession of RAB. What more do we need to know?

"Who he..." Ron glanced at Hermione. "Or she was."

"Tonks is taking care of that."

"And if it _was_ Sirius' brother, where he hid it," Ginny said. "Where, other than Grimmauld Place, did he have access to? Where would he believe it was safe?"

"On him?" Ron mused.

"If he carried it on him," Remus said, resuming his seat on the sofa. "Then Voldemort has it, because Reg was killed by Voldemort when he tried to back out. According to Sirius, his mother was convinced that Voldemort himself did the deed. The bloodthirsty old bat believed he deserved it."

"Remind me to burn that bloody painting," Harry muttered.

"Voldemort can't have it," Hermione said.

"Why not?" Harry cocked an eyebrow at her enquiringly. Hermione had a swift mind which saw inconsistencies quickly. He'd learned, over the years, to trust her in things that required deduction.

"Because Dumbledore told you that he hid the horcruxes in places that meant something to him... the locket was put in that cave for a reason. Voldemort would never have left proof that someone could get the better of him lying about like that."

"Mione..." Ron began doubtfully.

"No, she's right," Harry said. "He left the site alone because he never knew that it had been disturbed."

"But..."

"Which means that Regulus stashed the locket before they caught up with him, in a place he felt must be safe."

"Assuming that RAB is indeed, Regulus Black," Neville pointed out.

"For the sake of this argument, we have to assume he is, Nev," Harry said. "Remus, would he have considered Grimmauld Place safe?"

"I don't think so, Harry... not after he left the Death Eaters, anyway."

"There was a locket..." Ginny mused.

"What?" Everyone turned to her, silent.

"Remember when we first took over Grimmauld Place, the summer after my third year... your fourth, Harry. Remember? We spent weeks cleaning it out, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Ron groaned. "I still have nightmares about those doxies..."

"We went through tons of stuff... remember the music box?"

"We were all falling asleep," Hermione remembered.

"Until we closed it," Ginny said. "One of the things that I remember is a locket. It was large... but I can't remember the details of it... what it looked like. I just remember it felt very, very cold..."

"What?" Harry looked at her. "Where did that stuff go?"

"Mum tossed most of it. Dumbledore took some... I don't know where."

"Harry, the fact remains," Remus said. "That Regulus would not have returned to that house. When he turned his back on Voldemort, he would have known what kind of reception he'd get there. Sirius' mother wasn't known for her forgiving nature."

"Then where?" Harry asked. "Where would he feel it would be safe?"

"Another property?" Hermione asked.

"A vault?" Ron mused. "The goblins have security that, quite frankly, scares me witless."

"Vault?" Harry said. "He would still have access to the Black family vault, right?"

Bill spoke. "Of course, so long as he was a Black."

"Remus?" Harry turned to look at the older wizard.

"All the contents of the Black family vault were moved to your vault, Harry."

Harry turned to the others, "Did you see _anything_ when we were there? Anything?"

"Harry, there was only your mother's jewellery case," Ginny said. "We looked at everything."

"A jewellery case?" Remus asked.

"Yes... a wooden one, with a beautifully carved..."

"That wasn't Lily's," Remus said. "Lily never had a jewellery case. I remember, because James bought her one for Christmas... that year... before they went into hiding. He was holding on to it to give her. I assumed it was destroyed with the house."

He paused, taking a deep breath. "It was black velvet... it wasn't wooden... and it only held two things. His mother's pearls and the diamond bracelet he'd put there himself. Lily only owned a few pieces of jewellery. James intended to fill it for her, after they came out of hiding. I'm quite sure he never got to give it to her, Harry."

"So, where did this case come from?" Harry said, remembering the case that he and Ginny had looked at in the vault, which he had subsequently taken home to the Burrow with him, and stashed in his trunk, without ever exploring the contents. His trunk which, he assumed, now sat at Potter Manor.

"Maybe the locket was with the things we chucked," Ron said after a moment's silence. "We tossed out a lot of stuff, Harry."

"Kreacher," Harry said.

"What?"

"Kreacher. The houseelf. He kept half of what we tried to toss," Harry said. "Everything he could get his filthy hands on he stowed away somewhere."

"Harry?' Ginny sat up straight, looking at him, worried.

"_Kreacher!_" Harry bellowed. Instantly, there was a _pop_ and the ancient houseelf was suddenly cowering on the hearth rug in front of Harry.

"No... Kreacher won't, won't, won't," he changed, his eyes closed. "Filthy half-blood _owns_ Kreacher, but Kreacher won't obey. Won't, won't, _won't_!"

"Kreacher!" Harry snapped. "Shut up and listen to me!"

The gnarled body squirmed, turned, and bloodshot, red-rimmed eyes peered up at Harry.

"What did you do with my things?"

"Kreacher never touched filthy half-blood's things. Filthy, dirty muggle-lover..."

"Kreacher, the things we sorted out in Grimmauld Place two years ago. I know you took them. What did you do with them?"

"Won't, won't, won't... not half-blood's things... my mistress' things... touched by a mudblood..." his sly eyes slid to Hermione and back.

"No, Kreacher. _My_ things. There was a locket. Where did you put it?"

Kreacher's eyes moved to Ginny, and on to Ron. "Kreacher never touched a locket. Never, never. Not a locket, no, no, no.."

"_Kreacher_!" Harry's voice boomed. Everyone in the room froze, including the houseelf.

"M...master?"

"Where is the necklace?"

"Kreacher never have necklace. Nor locket. Never. Never. Kreacher took pictures of Black family. Noble family. And... other things."

His eyes slid again to Ginny and Harry felt her shudder as the creature's eerie gaze moved over her hair, her face, and down her neck to her robes, rather ragged now after several months travelling.

"You never took a necklace? Or a locket?"

"Never necklace... no, no, no. No necklace."

"If I ever find out you've lied to me," Harry leaned down, getting right in Kreacher's face, his voice low and cold, "If I ever find out you have lied to me, your _master_, I shall make you regret it, do you understand me? You've lied to me for the last time, Kreacher. Know that."

"Kreacher know... Kreacher not lie... Kreacher not..."

"Remember it," Harry said. "Now, go back to Hogwarts and report to Dobby. You are to do _exactly_ as Dobby says at all times, follow his orders without question. If I find out you've done differently... do you understand?"

"Oh, Kreacher _understands,_" the filthy little being said, casting Ginny another sly look, and muttering "... blood traitor..."

Then, his rheumy gaze slid back to Harry before he popped out of existence.

"I will see that filthy beast's head on the wall before I die," Harry gritted through clenched teeth.

Ron glanced uncomfortably at Hermione, who looked back.

"Come on, Ron," she said after a moment. "He's a dirty turncoat who is partly responsible for Sirius' death. Of course Harry wants to see him dead. It doesn't mean he's really going to do anything about it."

Ron raised his eyebrows doubtfully, but didn't speak.

"Don't count on it, Hermione," Harry said shortly, turning back to the group.

There was a moment of silence in the room before Harry spoke again.

"Okay... what else?"

"Harry?" Ginny looked at him. He turned to her. "We can't do anything until we've located..."

"Right," Harry flushed, obviously collecting himself. "Right. Okay, Neville?"

"Harry?"

"I have... I need your help with this."

"Anything, Harry," Harry looked into his eyes and knew that Neville spoke the truth. Whatever it took, the other boy would do.

"I need you to help us find them."

"Them?"

"Voldemort."

Neville swallowed reflexively, nodded shortly, and took a deep breath. "How?"

"We've been living as muggles, Nev," Ron said. "We've not had word from the wizarding world in months. We have no idea of what is going on, where the most recent attacks have been located. We know that the Burrow was probably..."

Ron paused, and looked down at his hands folded in his lap.

"The Burrow is gone, Ron," Bill said gently.

"I figured," Ron nodded. "It's why Harry insisted on getting you lot out of there..."

"Voldemort was there," Harry said. "They thought they'd find me there, and there is no way he'd let anyone at me. He wants me himself."

"So, I start there..." Neville nodded.

"There are five things you're looking for, Neville," Harry said. "Five things. Voldemort, Wormtail, Nagini, Snape and Malfoy."

"And when we find them, Harry?" Remus asked.

"Nagini is one of the horcruxes," Harry said. "She carries part of Voldemort's soul, and she has to be destroyed like the other horcruxes. Voldemort has to die, but it would seem that I have to do that. Malfoy, I want to see him spend the rest of his life in Azkaban."

"Harry..." Hermione began, a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry, Mione," Harry said with a bitter smile. "I'll visit him every week. Wormtail and Snape... if you find them..."

"They're not all going to be sitting in a pleasant group drinking afternoon tea and waiting for us, Harry," Ron said.

"I'm aware of that Ron. Just... the rest of you... understand this. If they _are_ there... Snape and Wormtail...well, don't get in my way."

* * *

_Ah, the last one was a shortie, wasn't it? So I figured I'd make up for it here. Please don't forget – tonight at 7:30 EST, wizardtales dot net chat room – I'll be there giving an "author chat" -- I'm so excited! I hope to "see" a few of you there – I'd be happy to see some familiar names. Also, for those who are interested, my stuff will eventually all be posted over there, as well as here. Now, on to the important bit – my reviewers!_

_**LarnaMandrea:** I hope you're there!_

_**Shotgunn:** You're just the suspicious type. Hope you did well on your A levels!_

_**PotterAnalyst:** I'm honored to be your first review!_

_**StayathomeDad:** Nope – Harry was born on July 31, Ginny's birthday is August 11 of the following year... so Harry is a year and a bit older than her. JKR has confirmed both dates._

_**Anon:** There have been rumors of the site "punishing" some authors for doing review responses... I'm hedging my bets. I'll be posting over at wizardtales as well._

_**Tomonak:** Aww, that's sweet! Thank you! _

_**Bean3769:** Not hard... but after six months of listening to Molly Weasley daily, I think I'd be losing patience and getting mildly frustrated, as well._

_**AmiableDorsai:** See? This is why I like having you guys around. My knowledge of London is reasonably limited. _

_**NutsaboutRemus:** I don't think Remus was showing a lack of understanding, it's just that it's been six months, he's worried about them, and Molly can be rather... well, trying, shall we say? He's more frustrated that he feels he can't help Harry than anything, I think._

_**ThePoeticMadman:** Thanks – this is something I have struggled with in past, so I recognize it – it's just a difficult rut to get out of!_

_**Alex:** I have an original piece on the go, as well – I find that the more I write, the more I CAN write. _

_**Aakanaksha:** I think that DD was pleading with Snape to remember an agreement, that he wasn't pleading for his life._

_**And to all the rest:** joeyandpaceyforever, RyougaZell, YelloWitchGrl, apatel37, Lacyl, BrittSchrick, QueenTigress, ProfessorMoody, OrlaPotter, Hpfan, WandaCarla, Sillysac, AlliBaby, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, ImLOVINGit, Dragonclawz54, Skateforever, imissdumbledore, pcb, WolfsScream, azntgr01, harry+ginnydestiny, vt, wolfy16, Seall, TDSM, Lsquared, papilusion, Kordolin, S, nandhp, cucu4cocopuffs, LuthienGranger2004, psychofroth, griffindorgirl12, life2me, Harry/Ginnymatchmaker, JoannaPotter, MsHellFire2005, dweem-angel, xarafu, sillysac_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Perpetuo Destructo Totalis

Harry shuffled through the bits and pieces in the carved wooden box. Nothing there was giving them any leads. There were several brooches, bracelets and sets of earrings. There were even other necklaces. Lots of them, actually. As simple as the inexpensive snitch pendant and chain Harry had given to Ginny and as ornate as a thick, embossed gold set that had to weigh at least twelve pounds. But none of them looked anything like the locket Harry remembered from what Dumbledore had shown him of the collected memories.

"There is nothing here," Harry said, closing the lid. "Thanks for bringing it, Bill, but it's not what we're looking for. None of it looks right, and none of it... feels right."

"Sorry, Harry," Bill said. "You want me to take it back and put it in your trunk?"

"You might as well... or give it to Remus to return to the vault. I only took it because I thought it was my mum's."

"I'll get it to him, then," Bill stood, lifting the box and holding it under one arm. He looked tired.

"How are you doing, Bill?" Harry asked.

"I'll live," he smiled sadly as he began to turn away.

"No, I mean..."

"There hasn't been any sign yet," Bill paused, speaking quietly. "Apparently, a werewolf _does_ have to be changed to infect someone."

"Remus did tell you that."

"Remus was no more sure than the rest of us," the tall, scarred redhead said dismissively. "You were all just trying to give me the will to live long enough to find out."

"Well..."

"Thanks, Harry," Bill said.

"I don't know what for. If it weren't for me..."

"I'd have still been there. Malfoy would still have rigged up that wardrobe, Death Eaters would still have gotten into Hogwarts."

"Yes," Harry nodded. "But I keep feeling like if I could just finish this..."

"There will still be werewolves in the world, Harry, even after Voldemort is nothing but dust. And some of them will be so bitter, or so twisted, they'll somehow justify infecting others purposely, just as some wizards will still believe that the purity of your blood decides your worth. Those things won't go away."

Harry was silent.

"But maybe we'll be able to buy enough time between now and the next rise of the Dark to convince a few others to _not_ follow them, and maybe, in future, that will save some lives," Bill continued. "And maybe one of those lives we save by our actions now will be the life of someone we care about. My child... Remus and Tonks'... or even yours and Ginny's."

Harry reddened. Bill chuckled.

"Don't think it's not obvious to everyone with eyes that you two are together, Harry. And you're not the type to give his heart lightly. Neither is Ginny. If it's as serious as I think it is, you two are in it for the long haul."

* * *

"I don't even bloody know what I'm _looking_ for!" Remus said angrily, throwing a rucksack full of old robes through the air. It landed with a flat sound against a stack of boxes... boxes that Remus had already been through. They contained old pictures, papers, and a couple of old wands that Remus had looked at carefully before passing them over as merely old wands. By rights, wands were supposed to be turned in to the Ministry after a witch or wizard passed away, but in truth, it seldom happened. Families kept them as mementos, and there was nothing special about these wands to say that they were anything but that.

"Slow down," Tonks said, stretching, her hands kneading her lower back. "You're getting frustrated."

"No, really?" Remus snapped, instantly feeling contrite. "Oh, love... I'm sorry. It's just..."

"I know, Remus. Try sifting through years worth of voter's records in the dustiest, dingiest hole there is under the Ministry for eight hours solid. What a nightmare."

"Tough?"

"Tough," she nodded. "And unproductive. I can hardly believe it, but by all appearances, there was only one witch or wizard in the last century with the initials RAB, and that was Regulus Augustus Black... Sirius' brother."

"But that is _good_ news!" Remus smiled. "It means that he _was _the one who took the locket!"

"Yes, but it doesn't get us any closer to finding the damned thing, does it?" Tonks said, lifting up a pile of blankets, then shrieking and jumping back, the blankets flying everywhere.

"Nymph?"

"Doxies! Bloody _doxies!_"

"Are you okay?" Remus moved quickly to her side. "The baby?"

"He's fine, Remus... just... surprised me. I hate those things."

"I know," he pulled her close, resting his chin on the top of her bubblegum pink hair.

"Remus, you know what we have to do, don't you?" Tonks enquired gently.

"What?"

"We need help to find it, if it's here," she said, leaning back to look him in the eye.

"Tonks..."

"I mean it. This is a big house. There is one... person... who can help."

"Molly Weasley is _not_ being told of what we're looking for, Nymph! She'd have it out of me in approximately eight point two seconds, try to use my portkey to get to them, and whatever nastiness that Hermione Granger has thought up to keep others from using the portkeys successfully... and I assure you, knowing that witch, it will be very, very nasty... would then be _my_ fault. I think not!"

Tonks laughed. "I wasn't talking about Molly, you silly canine. I was talking about Dobby."

"The houseelf?"

"Do you know another Dobby?"

"Umm... no. Do you think he could help?"

"The house belongs to Harry, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"So, I would imagine that _house_elves are called that for a reason, wouldn't you?"

Remus grinned, before taking in a deep breath and bellowing, "Dobby!"

"Master Remus called?" the spritely houseelf smiled happily from where he had just appeared in the corner.

"Tonks, you're a wonder!" Remus exclaimed.

"About time you figured that out."

* * *

"It can't be that easy," Bill sat back, his scarred face white with exhaustion.

Hermione Granger, her normally frizzy hair held back with a quickly conjured elastic band in a messy, yet effective, ponytail, was just as tired, but her cheeks were flushed with excitement. The ancient straight backed chair she sat on creaked alarmingly as she leaned forward. Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, it can!" She said. "Look, here... see? Where this goes... watch as the energy passes through this... see? There!"

"But, Hermione..." Bill looked down at the arithmancy notes she'd been scribbling, then back up at what they'd created. Professor Vector would certainly have been impressed. The girl was capable of calculations he'd never considered before, and Arithmancy was his best subject at Hogwarts, not to mention the reason he got a job as a cursebreaker at eighteen.

"Bill, sometimes we overlook the simplest solutions in favor of something more detailed, yet less effective, because we _expect_ it to be confusing," she pointed out. "It doesn't have to be."

"Where did you read that?" Bill asked dryly, passing a hand over his tired eyes. They'd been at this for well over eighteen hours, today alone. They'd been working on it, with short breaks for naps and food that Ginny pushed in front of them at regular intervals, for the past three days.

"I didn't," she said quietly, avoiding his eyes. "It's something that Dumbledore said to me once."

Bill felt the impact in his gut as though he'd been punched. "Sorry."

"Don't be," she flexed her shoulders. Hermione, too, despite her excitement, was tired. "It doesn't always have to be confusing, though. The spell to create a horcrux is really quite simple, if you don't take into consideration the need for the murder of an innocent to complete it. Why shouldn't a spell that destroys the horcrux and the piece of the soul held within be just as simple? We expect it to be confusing, to be costly, to require a sacrifice, because of the very nature of the thing we're destroying. Nothing says it _has_ to be that way."

"But..."

"Of course, there are the moral implications of destroying part of someone's soul. But if you take into consideration the fact that they murdered an innocent to get there... well, I _suppose_ you could consider it justified..."

"Hermione?"

"... and if you _really_ have a problem, despite that..."

"_Hermione_?"

Hermione's bright brown eyes looked up to Bill Weasley's sparkling blue ones. "Sorry, what?"

"We did it." Bill said flatly.

"Yes. Yes, we did," she smiled.

"We've created a counter spell to magic so ancient..." Bill swallowed back the tears. "A counter spell that doesn't require a death or a sacrifice in exchange. Hermione, I've never done anything so..."

"The implications are certainly..." Hermione squealed as Bill jumped up, lifted her into his arms and spun her around, kissing her soundly on the cheek as he did.

"Hermione, you aren't even a fully accredited _witch_! And I'm a tired, broken cursebreaker! And _we did it_!"

"Greatness isn't a requirement to accomplishment, Bill," she smiled as he put her down. "All anything takes is hard work."

He hugged her, and grinned hugely as Ginny stuck her head into the room.

"Well?" the tiny redhead asked with a smile. "Did I hear squeals of delight?"

"You did!" Bill said happily.

"Well, I hope it's because you've developed the spell, and not because you've suddenly realized that Ron and Fleur are gits and you really want to be together. I wouldn't want to be around when Fleur found out."

Bill chuckled. "No. Our genius future sister-in-law did it!"

Hermione flushed crimson. "No... I don't think... I mean... we both did it."

"Good," Ginny smiled, backing out of the room. "Harry will be pleased."

Bill watched her as she closed the door behind her. "Is that all she thinks about?"

"Pleasing Harry?" It was Hermione's turn to chuckle. "Pretty much."

"They're..."

"In love, Bill," Hermione said gently, gathering parchments together into a pile on the worn tabletop. "They're very, very much in love. And they need each other."

"I know."

"Just like you and Fleur, Remus and Tonks..." Hermione said softly, almost longingly.

"You and Ron."

"Well..." Hermione flushed. Her movements seemed to increase in speed, she nearly knocked over a bottle of ink in her rush.

"Does he know yet?" Bill asked softly.

"What?" Hermione's eyes flew to his, her surprise well-guarded. Bill smiled again.

"That he's going to be a daddy?"

Hermione paled. "Bill..."

"Hermione, I know the look on your face. I've been watching it very carefully these past three days. Fleur has it, Tonks has it. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Ron can't know," she whispered.

"What?"

"Ron can't know," her eyes rose to his, her pain very, very obvious. "It wasn't...planned... and..."

"These things seldom are," Bill said, his voice cooler. "But my brother has the right to know that you're carrying his child."

"Not until..." Hermione took a deep breath, visibly straightened her spine, and looked Bill squarely in the eye. "Not until this is done. Not until... he'll not want me anywhere near... and I _have_ to be."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do," Hermione said quietly. "Bill, Ron is..."

"He's stronger with you there," Bill put two and two together. Hermione was concerned that Ron couldn't do what he had to do, what Harry needed him to do, if he was distracted by this.

"Yes."

"The baby..."

"Is perfectly safe," Hermione said. "I promise that."

"It's not going to be something you can hide for long," Bill pointed out. Hermione's lush figure would show the obvious signs of pregnancy early.

"No," she agreed. "But it's not going to be long. You know that as well as I do, Bill."

"Yes," he sighed after a moment. "Okay... but..."

"But?"

"But if it's not over by the end of the month, three weeks, you tell him no matter what. Okay?"

She smiled. "I promise."

Bill pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "And stay away from trouble. That's my nephew you're carrying in there."

"Niece," she corrected, pulling away and gathering up the last of her things. "Harry and Ron should be back shortly. Harry will want to know about the spell immediately."

"Do I get to tell him?" Bill grinned cheekily.

"You get to tell him," she agreed. "I'm going for a nap."

"Good," Bill nodded. "Go on, then."

* * *

Remus sighed, sitting down on the trunk he'd just closed. The attics of Grimmauld Place were now officially completely gone through. Three days of searching and there was nothing. Nothing at all.

"Master Remus! Master Remus!" Dobby's high, shrill voice came floating through the air. Remus had no idea where he was.

"Dobby?"

"Dobby has found something!" the voice came again. Remus looked around. It sounded like it was coming from that corner, but...

"Dobby, where are you?"

"Up _here_, Master Remus!"

Remus looked up to see Dobby standing precariously on a beam high above the floor. "What are you doing up there?"

"We house elves like high places, Mr Remus. Dobby thought, perhaps Kreacher did, too. And Dobby was right!"

"What?"

"It is up here, Master Remus!"

"What is?"

"Kreacher's place!"

"Kreacher's... what are you talking about?" Remus asked as he levitated himself up to the houseelf's level.

"Kreacher's _place_," Dobby indicated behind him.

Across the rafters, a sort of loft had been made. The floor was made of a long piece of board, and upon it, tucked back into the corner under the eaves, was a pile of what appeared to be rags.

"Dobby? What is this?"

"Kreacher's place, Master Remus. All houseelves have a place... we make our own place."

"I thought Kreacher's place was in the cupboard..."

"Oh, no... he _wanted_ thems to think that... but _that_ wasn't his place. Dobby knew he had another place."

"How?"

"Because he never _slept_ in that place," Dobby said. "And there were only things Kreacher wouldn't mind losing there. Look..."

Dobby crept forward and began to pull out all manner of things. There were a set of golden candlesticks, several small portraits, and a woman's dress. Under the pile of rags, they found bits and pieces of crockery, a glass jar holding a collection of galleons, and, under it all, a long, golden chain.

"Master Remus?" Dobby said. "Is this what we look for?"

Holding it up, Remus could see the heavy golden locket, with the etching of an elongated S, and an engraved head of a serpent at one end.

"Yes," Remus said quietly, staring at the dangling locket. "Yes, Dobby, I rather think it is."

* * *

To say that Harry was excited about the accomplishments that day would have been a gross overstatement. If anything, he was more grim than ever.

Bill spoke to him the moment he returned from whereever it was he and Ron had been going for the past few days. Bill rather suspected that the two were helping Neville in the search for Voldemort and Nagini, not to mention Snape and Malfoy, but he didn't ask. He had his own work to do. Or, at least, he had had his own work to do, until this afternoon.

"We did it, Harry," Bill greeted him as Harry and Ron entered the lounge just before dinner that evening, the shoulders of their jackets damp with the spring rain that hadn't seemed to stop for the past week, the look on their faces showing their lack of progress that day.

"What?" Harry stilled, staring hard at Ron's eldest brother.

"The spell. Hermione and I finished it. Today. It's ready."

"It... really?"

"Yes."

"You mean..."

"We can do it... we can destroy them. All of them."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded. "Teach me."

* * *

Remus' arrival shortly after found Harry and Bill standing close together in the lounge, Ron and Ginny watching carefully. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

"Harry!" Remus entered, his eyes almost wild with excitement. "Harry! We found it!"

"You...?" Harry looked at the pendant with shock as Remus held it from the long golden chain. "Where?"

"It was in Grimmauld Place. I have no idea how... I was certain that Regulus would never return there. But it was!"

"How did we miss it before?" Harry asked.

"Kreacher had it stashed, up in the rafters of the attic," Remus said. "Dobby found it."

"Thank Merlin for Dobby," Ron smiled. "Better at cleaning than Mum. That's saying something."

"Well," Harry said. "All the better. Bill and Hermione have finished the spell. Perhaps we ought to test it."

"Harry?" Ron looked at him. "I thought you wanted to wait until we had all...?"

"Nagini is going to have to be destroyed with Voldemort, Ron. When I get close to her, I'll be close to him. I won't have another opportunity."

"But... the others?"

"Go get the cup, Ginny," Harry said, not looking at her. "You know where it is."

Ginny stood and silently left the room.

"But..."

"I don't know," Harry looked at Ron. "We don't have the other one, Ron. We have to destroy these while we can. It's... it's coming, and I don't want to walk into it with any of the horcruxes remaining where I can't get to them to destroy them. We have these now... we have to do this now."

"But you said..." Ron looked at him. "You said they all had to be destroyed right before we found Voldemort... or he could..."

"He can't. I know that now," Harry said cryptically.

"How?"

"I just do," Harry thanked Ginny with a smile as she reentered the room and handed him the cup, still wrapped in the rags it had been.

All were silent as Harry took out the cup and laid it on the tabletop where Remus had placed the locket. "Well, no time like the present."

"Harry," Bill began, warningly. "Perhaps I ought to..."

"No, Bill," Harry said. "It has to be me."

Nodding, Bill stepped back. Harry looked once at Ginny, then turned to the table, and quickly drew his wand and cast the spell.

"_Perpetuo Destructo Totalis_!"

With a sizzling sputter, the two items on the desk were encased in a bright red light, and then shriveled into nothingness. As they blinked out of existence, there was a short, disembodied wail of pain... and then nothing.

Everyone stood back and looked at the singed tabletop, silent.

"Well," Ron said after a moment. "That was rather... impressive."

"It doesn't have to be accompanied by fireworks and a light show to be effective, Ron," Bill said shortly.

"It worked?" Ginny asked, moving forward and touching Harry's arm with her hand.

"It worked," Harry said. "Two more parts of Voldemort relegated to hell."

* * *

_Well, how about we stop there for the weekend? I have to say, I enjoyed my time in the WizardTales chat room doing the Author chat thing immensely. For those of you who haven't checked the site out – please, do so. Thank you to everyone who turned up and made it such a wonderful experience for me!_

_CQ_

_**YelloWitchGrl:** Kreacher is a houseelf, and knows all SORTS of things... LOL!_

_**GiGiFanfic:** I've been over there, but I haven't posted anything. I'll have to check them out._

_**Treck:** Ooooh... I LIKE it! What a wonderful idea... Snape-kebabs..._

_**Jshulmi:** Yes, I'll be posting everything there._

_**Alix33:** Wizards Itch: A rather uncomfortable rash in a rather private place. _

_**NutsaboutRemus:** They simply didn't know WHERE it was... and why did Remus and Bill exchange a dodgy look?... well... hmmm. Maybe... well, read on!_

_**OldCrow:** Question answered?_

_**TDSM:** LOL! I knew you'd be here somewhere..._

_**Eleopy:** You think he actually LIKES Draco? I can't agree with you, but I'm interested in knowing why you think so?_

_**Pegasus:** Thank you!_

_**David305:** Thank you, thank you, thank you SO much for clarifying that for me! You have no idea of how relieved I am! Folks – David directed me to the rules in question about the review responses – and it looks like we're okay! Thanks, David!_

_**Shotgunn:** I know. It pisses off a lot of people (so therefore I do it more), LOL!_

_**Josh:** Glad to hear from you, buddy – where have you been? Like I should ask, right? Happy to hear you like it – like I said, this is the warmup!_

_**Thank you to everyone for reviewing:** sweetmelody, luvguurl, ImLOVINGit, Harry/Ginnymatchmaker, OrlaPotter, HarryPassionFan, andy-may, ProfessorMoody, LarnaMandrea, BrittSchrick, genuinescience, joeyandpaceyforever, Lacyl, blueclover13, substandardauthor, azntgr01, Bexylou, dragonclawz54, WolfsScream, Ameristrat, kazziedal, MarinePotterFan, AriannaofBellezza, Skateforever, smiley12, AlliBaby, moodyboy66, blueclover13, AintNoAngels, Kordolin, life2me, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, HarryGinnyfan23, Harry+Ginny4eva, HAM005,Alex, pcb, hark27, Ennui-EAF, HermioneJaneKoriand'rTarberllaRiewer, LunaMoon224, volleypickle16, RecklessYouth, renoir, miss-understood, sillysac, penghu-dust, JoannaPotter, JamesPottersLilyFlower_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Connections

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Ginny's eyes flew open and looked into Harry's green eyes inches away from her own. She smiled. His eyes were sparkling, and that meant he was, right now, very happy.

"Good morning," she mumbled with a grin, stretching.

"I love to watch you sleep," Harry said. "You... drool."

"I do _not_ drool!" Ginny turned on him, her eyes snapping, trying to hide the smile that threatened.

"You do. And it's... very..." Harry kissed her neck, then lower. "...sexy."

"Drooling is sexy?" Ginny asked doubtfully, pushing her hands through his hair, holding him close as he moved down her body.

"Not for anyone else," Harry said. "But when _you_ do it..."

"Ah, but how would you know?"

"Hmm?" Harry seemed rather distracted by her navel. She sucked in a sharp breath as his tongue darted out, circling it, and again as he blew gently, making her shiver.

"How do you know it's not sexy when someone else drools in their sleep?" she teased after a moment. "I mean, I _am_ the only one you've shared a bed with, aren't I?"

"A bed, yes," Harry moved back up her body, coming to rest full length against her and looking into her eyes. "But I've shared a dorm room with four other blokes for six years. Trust me, drooling, for anyone else, is definitely not sexy."

Ginny giggled. She loved it when Harry was like this. Teasing and almost... carefree.

She gasped as he touched her, and her eyes became smoky.

"Do we have time?" she whispered.

"We'll make time," Harry said, kissing her deeply and throwing privacy charms over his shoulder at the doorway.

Ginny melted.

* * *

"Tell me again, why exactly are we here?" Ron asked, looking around the rather large coffee shop. Muggle music was blaring out of hidden speakers, and it was beginning to disconcert Ron. They walked further in and looked around.

"I have no idea. Neville said we were to meet him here at three..."

"Which is... now," Ron glanced at a clock on the wall. "So, where in bloody blue blazes is he?"

"He'll be here."

"Let's find a seat," Ron began walking towards the seating area.

"Ron," Harry called him back. "In places like this you're not allowed to sit down if you haven't bought a drink. Coffee?"

"Butterbeer would be good, but I suppose it would be asking too..." Ron caught sight of Harry's face, and sighed. "Coffee."

Harry approached the counter, only to have Ron stride up behind him, and mutter under his breath, "Oi, Potter. Nine o'clock lovely."

Harry glanced over his left shoulder to see what it was Ron had seen. The cafe was reasonably empty, and he had no difficulty understanding what it was that Ron was referring to. At a far table, in a corner by the window, sat a woman, a pad of lined paper in front of her and a pen in her hand. There was a little stack of paper already written on sitting on the table, held in place with a salt shaker, and a couple of balls of discarded paper littering the table. She wrote furiously, reminding them both of Hermione. As they watched, she picked up her coffee mug, drank distractedly, grimaced at the cold contents, and put the mug back down, glancing around nervously.

Ron smiled, turning to the barista. "Three coffees, please."

"Ron!"

"What?" Ron smiled and watched as Harry paid for the three drinks.

Harry just looked at him, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, come on, Harry. The woman is old enough to be my... well, my older sister, at any rate. I just thought, nice gesture and all, you know? It's cold out, and you said you had to buy a drink to sit... it would appear she's just finished hers. She's right pretty, though, isn't she?"

"Lovely," Harry agreed, although he thought her blonde looks paled next to Ginny's vibrancy. "What do you think she's doing?"

"Writing something," Ron shrugged.

"Can you imagine, Ron, how nice it must be to be able to wile away an afternoon in a cafe, with no where to be... no responsibilities...?"

"Ah, come on, Harry! She's probably an out of work single mum with a kid at home," Ron said, taking two of the three mugs and approaching the table where the blonde woman sat. Harry moved to another table, along the outer, glassed-in wall of the cafe, and watched. There was a brief conversation between his tall, red-haired friend and the seated woman, and then she smiled, accepted the coffee, and at Ron's gesture, waved to Harry, as well. Harry nodded in acknowledgement of her thanks, and watched as Ron approached.

"She's writing a book. Or trying to, at any rate."

"Hmm."

"Where the hell is...?"

"Here he comes now," Harry said, nodding at the doorway where Neville had just entered, shaking the droplets of rain off of his muggle jacket as he came. He approached the counter, got a cup of something steamy, and walked quickly towards their table.

"Harry, Ron," he greeted them, pulling off his outer jacket and sitting down.

"Nev," Harry said. "What's up?"

"I've found them, Harry. Or at least, I think I have."

"Slow down, Nev, and tell me what you've found," Harry couldn't help the excited beating of his heart.

"I... well, I don't want you to be upset with me, but I knew that I couldn't do it alone, so I called in some backup..."

"Neville!"

"They didn't know what they were doing! At least, they didn't know they were doing it for you," Neville said quickly. "The DA wants to help, Harry. Most of us have lost... well, none of us are in school this year, and I've been in touch with a lot of people... well, it was really only Luna and Dean. And Seamus, of course. Oh, and Susan Bones was a great help, actually. Her aunt was quite important in the Ministry, you know, and Susan was very close to her... well..." Neville flushed.

"Neville," Harry ran a hand through his messy hair. "What have you found out?"

"Well, it was Dean and Seamus, actually..."

"_Neville_!" Ron was beginning to lose his patience.

"Okay... okay, sorry. They... Dean and Seamus... followed Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Harry traded a look with Ron. Surely Malfoy wouldn't be stupid enough to be out and about, where he could be seen? Not after what he had done? "From where, to where?"

"Well, he was originally spotted near Diagon Alley. One of the DA members thought it odd that he'd be out and about after everything. They were quite surprised to see him, actually, and he was acting rather oddly, skulking about. They followed him back to... well, Susan called a friend of her aunt's in the Ministry and it turns out it's Malfoy Manor. Can't quite believe the stupid git would go there, of all places. He must have known someone would recognize him..." Neville looked up and flushed as he saw the expression on Harry's face. "Right, well, they followed him there, and then Dean and Seamus took up watching. They followed him to someplace..."

"Where?"

"They call it Spinner's End," Neville said. "Luna then talked to her dad, and it turns out it's where the Prince family is from. Snape grew up there. His mother, apparently, was a Prince."

Harry, who knew this full well, grimaced. "So, where is this?"

"Spinner's End? Well, Dean and Seamus are there now, and I can take you. But the reason I had you come to Edinburgh..."

"Yes?"

"Well, someone has been spotted here. There is an old castle about four miles outside the city. It's supposedly deserted, but..."

"But?"

"But well, a fourth year named Michael Savage was there... holidaying, you know... and he said that he saw... well..."

"What?"

"Well, the place is supposedly deserted, and he had his camera with him. Well, he'd wandered off to get a picture, and he... well, he snapped this."

Harry took the square of paper that Neville held out. It wasn't paper, it was stiffer than that, and upon looking at it, glossy. Harry drew in a quick breath. It was a magical photo. It showed a man standing in the doorway, suddenly looking startled, then apparating away.

"He was a member of the DA, and he brought it to me, Harry, because he knew you were gone, and he didn't know who else to take it to."

"I'm glad he did," Harry said in a low voice, staring at the photo. His eyes grew dark and Ron drew a breath. Harry was angry. Very, very angry.

The man in the photo was Peter Pettigrew.

Harry's first reaction was to tell Neville to take him to the castle. However, he never got the chance. The moment that he opened his mouth to speak, the door of the cafe flew open and Remus Lupin strode through, Bill and Hermione close on his heels.

"Harry!" Remus called the moment he made eye contact. "You need to come... now!"

"What is it?" Harry grabbed his jacket and hurried out, followed by Ron and Neville. "What's wrong?"

Remus led them into an alleyway, behind a garbage bin, and turned to Harry. "Harry, it..."

"What?"

"It's Ginny."

Harry froze. "Ginny? _Where is she?_"

"She went into the village, Harry, to get some supplies. I told her she should wait for you and Ron, but before I knew it, she was gone," Hermione's voice was strained, there were unshed tears in her eyes.

"_Where is she?_"

"I followed her, but I arrived behind the shop just in time to see her go out of the alleyway and into the street, she... there must have been fifteen of them..."

"What?"

"Death Eaters," Hermione said quietly. "I couldn't... I knew I couldn't... so I apparated to Grimmauld Place..."

"Hermione!" Ron looked shocked, pulling her to him. "Anyone could have been there..."

"Bill and Remus said we had to find you, and I knew you were meeting Neville... I..."

"How long?" Harry turned to her. "_How long?_"

"No more than fifteen minutes ago," Hermione whispered, her wide shocked eyes taking in the wild, angry look in Harry's eyes. "But I don't know where they took her."

"I do," Harry said, turning to Neville. "Neville, you're not going to like this, but I have to do it. I'm sorry. _Legilimens!_"

Moments later, Harry took a swift breath and turned back to the group, his eyes finding Remus. Neville swayed, almost stumbled, and looked rather disoriented, but Ron quickly grabbed his arm and steadied him. Neville gave Ron a grateful nod once he'd righted himself.

"We have to apparate there. I have to give you the image of where it is we're going, and someone has to tell the Order."

"Do what you have to," Remus looked at him as Harry again cast the spell and, this time, entered Remus' mind, only for a moment, leaving a memory there. He quickly did the same to Bill, and both apparated away.

"Hermione, I have to," Harry said, his bright eyes showing his regret at what he was about to subject her to. "You're the strongest at apparition."

"Do it, Harry," she stared hard at him.

Harry entered her mind, paused for a moment with confusion, then shock, but he gave her the memory and exited quickly. There were other things that needed to be done before he could question her about what he'd felt there.

Hermione took the memory without flinching and, holding tightly on to Ron's arm, the four of them apparated away to what was supposed to be a deserted castle not far outside of Edinburgh.

* * *

They arrived on a windswept moor just in sight of the crumbling remains of a sandstone castle. One tower remained standing, but the rest was bare walls and crumbling piles of stone. Harry strode forward.

"Harry! We need to wait for the others!" Hermione called. Harry didn't even spare her a glance. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and continued striding ahead.

A moment later, he felt thumping footfalls behind him, reverberating on the heavy peat beneath their feet, and glanced to the side to see Ron and Neville, both with determined looks on their faces and their wands out. Hermione was close behind them.

Harry knew that something else was present the moment they cleared the rise between their apparition point and the ruins. There was a brief flicker of grey-black in his peripheral vision, and he swung around to confront the huge swaying head of Nagini.

"Massssster will be pleassssssed..." he heard her speak.

"Master won't be pleased at all," Harry said back, barely aware that he now spoke in parseltongue. "I've come to kill him."

"One hasssss to be alive to kill..." Nagini's eyes narrowed. "Nagini issss not to let you passss..."

"Try to stop me!" Harry swung out with his wand, and began throwing hexes and curses at the serpent. She writhed and dodged, getting ever closer. Harry was briefly aware of others apparating in, but he, Ron, Neville and Hermione fought the serpent, not allowing themselves to be distracted.

Nagini fought hard, but against the four of them found it difficult to keep up, especially after they spread out, broadening the area she had to defend. Eventually, she began to slow down, and Harry stepped forward, levelled his wand at her and uttered the final curse.

"_Perpetuo Destructo Totalis_!"

And the writhing, sleek body of Nagini was enveloped in a bright red light, before sizzling into nothingness with a scream.

He took a deep breath, felt a hand on his back, and looked up to hear Ron say, "Dear Merlin... Harry, look!"

Coming out of the ruins of the castle were dozens upon dozens of Death Eaters. The black robed, masked figures were everywhere, and the fight began in earnest. Harry found himself, back to back with Neville, as Ron and Hermione paired up, Remus and Bill, only just arrived with a mere handful of aurors, had rather surprised looks on their faces as they jumped into the fray.

Harry was no longer concerned about the moral dilemma of killing rather than maiming. The Death Eaters surrounding them didn't appear to be too concerned, either, and Harry, overwhelmingly, had but one clear thought in his mind... to get to Ginny. He heard Neville grunting with effort behind him, and saw Remus some distance away fighting a losing battle with a rather large Death Eater. He had time to throw a long curse which dropped the man in his tracks, leaving Remus to turn, blood gushing from a cut in his side, just as Peter Pettigrew stepped forward. Harry saw only Remus fall to his knees in front of the wizard who had betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, but could do nothing as those attacking he and Neville seemed to double.

And then everything went red. Harry fought as he'd never fought before, through the masses of Voldemort's followers and slowly, closer and closer to the castle until, finally, he found himself at the entrance, and moved quickly through, leaving Ron and the others to deal with those remaining outside.

And stepped into hell itself.

Ginny was standing stiffly some feet away against the wall. Harry could tell by looking at her that she'd been frozen by the _Immobilus_ spell. She was surrounded by robed figures... at least a dozen of them.

"_Stupefy!_" He jumped out from behind a column throwing curses, walking forward and into the group, still throwing curses, until he was less than ten feet from Ginny, when he realized there was no one else to curse. Ginny's eyes looked at him, pleading, then darted over his shoulder. Harry swung around to see the towering, snakelike figure of Voldemort standing, not twenty feet away.

"You do think you're clever, don't you, Potter?"

Harry stared silently at the wizard who had caused him so much pain his entire life. Since he was fifteen months old and Voldemort had attacked his family, his life had been determined... dictated... by this one person.

Who wasn't really a person any longer at all. He wasn't even really a wizard. There was so little of Tom Riddle left.

"How does it feel to be only two sevenths of yourself, Tom?" Harry asked calmly.

"Two? Ah, we are clever! But there _are... _at least... two sevenths left, now aren't there? More than a match for an untrained brat such as yourself."

"When it's just the two of us, I'm more than a match for you, Tom. Or don't you remember our meeting in the graveyard three years ago? And I was only fourteen then. Imagine what I can do now."

"Imagine what _I_ can do, Potter. Three years to regain my strength..."

"But you haven't, have you?" Harry pointed out with a sneer. "Five parts of your soul are gone forever. Five... of seven. You're less than a third what you were, Tom. And whole, you couldn't beat me. Or are you forgetting what happened sixteen years ago?"

"Yes, but you don't have that mudblood bitch to protect you this time, do you, Potter?"

"My mother died for me, something you could never understand."

"Oh, I understand. My own mother died..."

"_Because_ of you, Tom. Not _for_ you. Slight difference, that."

"You still don't understand, do you, Potter? All the stock you and that inept Headmaster put it _love_, and what has it done for you? How has it helped you? You still stand here, before me, as you were meant to all along."

"I stand here by choice, Tom."

"Choice? You? A seventeen year old child? You _choose_ to face the greatest wizard ever known?"

"You couldn't even begin to claim that title, Tom. _Albus Dumbledore_ was the greatest wizard ever known... and _always will be_!"

"You don't understand what I am, Potter."

"And I hope I never do," Harry said, glaring at the red-eyed, barely human figure before him. "I don't want to understand you. Just as I don't want to understand that lapdog of yours."

"Wormtail?" Voldemort laughed. It was a rusty, croaking sound.

"Pettigrew?" Harry laughed, too, but coldly. Ginny, behind him and to the side, thought it was the coldest sound she'd ever heard. "No, Pettigrew isn't a lap dog. A lap dog feels loyalty, not fear. And we both know that Wormtail would wet himself if you... or I... said 'boo'."

Voldemort's eyes sparked.

"He's a coward," Harry spat. "He's too frightened to leave. No, actually, I was referring to that bloody potions master. Did you know that _he_ was a half blood, Tom? Just like us."

"Snape?" Voldemort sneered. Harry rather thought it was as close to amusement as he got. "Shall I give him to you? A present... for all the years of entertainment you've provided me..."

"You don't need to show such generosity, Tom, really. Once I'm done with you, I'll deal with him."

"You're very confident," Voldemort smiled.

"I have every right to be," Harry said, his eyes never leaving Tom Riddle's face, but his hand gestured behind him to the bodies of the death eaters who had surrounded Ginny when Harry arrived.

"They were hardly in Snape's category," Voldemort glanced over them. "Snape is a top duelist."

Harry said nothing.

"Well, now... perhaps we should get on with this, then?" Voldemort said coldly. "I do have... things to do."

"With five of the horcruxes gone, that means five parts of your soul are lost forever, Tom."

"Yes... but I have... two. Don't I?"

"No, actually, you _have_ one, but it's not going to matter."

"And you have _no_ idea of where the last one is," Voldemort said confidently.

"You think?" Harry replied calmly.

"Oh, I think. Otherwise, we wouldn't be standing here, now."

"Nothing would have kept me away, Tom. You know that."

Voldemort glanced beyond Harry to where Ginny stood, frozen. She was able to move her eyes, and nothing else. But her tears didn't seem affected by the _Immobilus_ spell... and they flowed freely.

"She is... unique. One might be forgiven for saying... beautiful. Too bad about that mudblood-loving thing."

"I rather like that about her," Harry said, his eyes never leaving the snakelike face.

"You would," Voldemort said dryly. "We could have been great, Potter, if only you'd joined me, instead of that muggle-loving fool..."

"Never."

"I'll give you one last chance, shall I?"

"Forget it."

"You want to know what the last horcrux is, don't you?"

"No."

"No?" Voldemort looked at him, a patronizing air about him. "Really?"

"I don't need you to tell me what the final horcrux is, Tom," Harry said.

"Really? You're rather more clever than I thought, then. Tell me, Potter... you didn't really think you had the right locket, did you?"

"Dumbledore died for the wrong locket, Tom."

"Ah, _that_ locket, yes."

"But I know full well that Regulus Black had the real one."

"Had. Yes. Yes, he did. And you found that one, as well, did you?"

Harry felt his blood run cold as Voldemort's eyes danced with glee.

"Or, did you?"

Harry remained silent, watching as Voldemort glanced at Ginny.

"Are you sure that that was it, Potter? Are you certain that I didn't _know_ what Black had done? Are you _sure_..." He leaned forward slightly, tauntingly. "Are you sure that I didn't come up with another way to recreate a horcrux? Perhaps... embed one? In the mind of a child?"

Voldemort stared at him calmly for a moment before turning and looking speculatively at Ginny. "Your girlfriend is lovely, Harry. I rather thought so all those years ago. Such a lovely child... such a lovely... and open... little girl. She showed spirit, even then. She was worthy of me. I had planned on waiting for her to grow up a little... before taking her as my own. But, well... soiled goods and all that."

"Don't..."

"What, Harry? What do you see in her?" Voldemort moved steadily towards Ginny, who stood, still frozen, but with her eyes blazing. "Is it perhaps... the part of me that remains with her? The power I left in her? Power can be very... seductive, can't it? Even to you."

And with dawning horror, Ginny watched as Harry turned to her, his eyes hard, his face cold. She continued to watch as he raised his wand, pointed it at her, and screamed the spell.

* * *

_The chat I had over at WizardTales, along with a couple of comments in reviews from people who read my stuff, has prompted me to ask a question. I'm very interested in where you all are from. I'm in Alberta, a province in Western Canada. I know that Shotgunn is in England, and kazziedal is in Ireland, and YelloWitchGrl is in New England (I think!)... So, soundoff! Where are you reading from? _

_CQ_

_**GiGiFanfic:** Were your ears burning Thursday night? I missed you at my chat... BillHagridson was there, as well!_

_**RyougaZell:** Well, I couldn't go without a twist in there somewhere, now could I?_

_**TDSM:** Actually the translation for 'perpetuo' is "constantly, without interruption, forever". Fitting, I thought!_

_**Shotgunn:** One of these days, I promise, I will write an epic... like, 75 chapters, just for you!_

_**Realfanficts: **I'm working on it!_

_**LarnaMandrea:** I was so happy to see you there. Thank you!_

_**Crisis:** I didn't respond to reviewers for several chapters, while I figured out what the deal was with review responses. I assure you, I read them all, and take them all into consideration! That is, after all, why I post here, to get feedback on my writing, and I greatly appreciate ALL reviews. You may be right about the nature of the horcruxes... personally, I think that there is far more to them than we understand right now. My personal theory is that someone, perhaps a person like Bill who works with curses and dark magic a lot, would have some "inside knowledge" that Harry needs. I suppose we shall see. And I agree with you about Voldie's "unique" sense of humor. I also agree with you on the RAB thing – I thinkit's pretty obvious that it's someone we already know, tying it back. But JKR is famous for her red herrings... and I think that the locket they found while cleaning out Grimmauld Place could go either way. _

_**BrittSchrick:** How can they cut Dobby? What about the gillyweed?_

_**NutsAboutRemus:** Hmmm... I've heard that. Hormones go crazy and all that..._

_**rdprice29:** I'm glad you're enjoying it! I hoped someone would pick up on the "quarters" reference. What was it the guys used to call lemon gin? LOL! As for "how" Ginny came along, being younger... I am operating on the premise that theMoM has MUCH more important things to worry about at this point than the restriction on underage magic. With Hogwarts closed, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be so strict about that rule._

_**J62442: **Nah, don't worry about my doing that... really! _

_**BlueClover13:** Only a couple._

_**Jarno:** Anything is possible. Until JKR chooses to grace us with the final book, everything is up for discussion, I suppose. I do believe that the "final conversation" between Snape and DD meant something other than the obvious – whatever it was._

_**Ugly Duckling:** Ahhh! Very possible!_

_**PCB:** Harry has a "mental connection" with Voldie, remember? Occlumency can only help him block out so much – he's still, IMHO, going to be aware of Voldemort on some level. _

_**Naomi:** I ALWAYS finish my fics – always. You can rest assured that if I ever abandon a fic it will be because I've died._

_**Oh, I do love my reviewers:** nandhp, AlliBaby, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, ImissDumbledore, NightmareAlley, GinebraBrong, Kordolin, Skateforever, OldCrow, joeyandpaceyforever, wiley73, Arachnasloom, kazziedal, waytoobored, BexyLou, Sillysac, luvguurl, ImLOVINGit, griffindor-girl12, ProfessorMoody, HarryPassionFan, Aint-No-Angels, Lacyl, volleypickle16, moodyboy66, YelloWitchGrl, LoonyFerret, azntgr01, 1234, Eleoopy, WolfsScream, blackenedsoul, halfbloodgit, HarryGinny92, HarryGinnyLuv4ever, Alex, life2me, Theresa-Thou-I-Love, PotterandtheWeasley, harrypassion, yingfa, eileenprince, Tomanak, StrangelySirius, gryffindorgrl123, Amena, TriaMarieVal, AngelSumoritos, AnnaTBell, WandaCarla, AnimegurlzRule, Draco'sWifeLover, Azraeos, snuffles007, HarryGinnyfan 23, ReiSakuraLi, whatdoIhavetodo, MissHellfire2005, jshulmi, BritnieSmith_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen: Together

"_Accio locket_!" Harry cried. Ginny felt the fine gold chain rip from around her neck, and watched numbly as it flew through the air towards Harry's outstretched hand.

Voldemort dove for it as it sailed past him, but missed it by two feet. Harry caught it deftly and threw it to the ground.

"_Finite incantatum_!" Harry's wand was pointing at the locket laying in the dirt in front of him.

Ginny watched as it was encased in a bright white light and changed before her eyes. It was larger, and heavier. And the gold glimmered with the patina of age. She didn't have much time to study it as Harry again pointed his wand down and screamed the incantation to the spell that Bill and Hermione had developed.

"_Perpetuo Destructo Totalis_!"

"Clever, Potter," panted Voldemort as he straightened, glaring at the younger wizard. "Very clever."

"Did you think you'd get to it before I destroyed her, Tom? That _was_ your plan, to make me believe that she carried a piece of your soul? That I would destroy her?"

"You're a fool, Potter!" Voldemort hissed.

"You have no idea of where real strength comes from, Tom. You never have. And the really sad part is, you could have had so much, so very much, if you'd only let others in."

Voldemort panted. Harry could tell that the destruction of the locket had affected him greatly.

"Love, Tom. It's what gives me power. You can't stop it, because it can't be dictated. You can't change it... you can't overpower it. Only by accepting it, and giving it freely, do you access the power it gives, because the power... the power means nothing without it."

"Fool!" Voldemort spat.

"Perhaps a fool..." Harry said. "But a fool with a full soul."

"You still don't know..." Voldemort panted, trying to stand straight, but unable to. "There are still two left!"

"One, actually," Harry said in a low, dangerous voice. "One. And you."

"You have no idea where... or what... that one is, though," Voldemort gave a short laugh. "You could never destroy it!"

"Are you certain, Tom?" Harry asked, drawing Ginny's attention with his tone. He sounded... resigned. "Are you sure?"

"You may _think_ that you know what... where... it is, Potter... but even if you did, you couldn't destroy it. You never could. No one would!"

Harry nodded, smiling sadly. He turned and looked at Ginny, then pointed his wand at her.

"_Finite Incantatum_," he said, almost quietly. Ginny felt every muscle in her body relax as she fell towards the ground. But Harry was there, his arm around her, supporting her. His green eyes held her soft brown ones for a moment before he spoke.

"But I do know what the final horcrux is, Tom. I've always known... even if I didn't know what name to give it."

He looked deeply into Ginny's eyes, knowing she knew what he was trying to communicate to her the moment the understanding lit her eyes. Then, the pain... the horror of it...

And finally, the acceptance. She knew what he had to do. And she knew what would then fall to her, what duty she had.

Harry Potter himself was the final horcrux. She knew it as certainly as he did, and she knew that the moment he destroyed himself, it would fall to her to destroy Voldemort, while he was weakened, before he could regroup. Ginny knew that the power that would have to go into the spell would either leave her dead, or little more than a Squib. She was nowhere near as powerful as Harry, but it would finish here, now, no matter what.

It was barely a moment, but standing there, looking into each other's eyes, they felt the strength of their convictions wash over them. They felt bonded, closer than they had ever been. For the first time, Harry let go of the responsibility... the duty... that he had known would fall to him ever since he'd learned of the prophecy. He let it go, knowing that it was no longer up to him, and him alone. Ginny leaned forward, pulling Harry's face down for one last kiss, and then softly laid her lips on the long, thin, lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

And felt the lightning within her as the world exploded around them. Electricity arced between them. Ginny had never felt so weak, yet so powerful, in her entire life. It was like pure energy had snaked through her for a brief moment, in a screaming wave, and then was gone. The echo of the scream reverberated in her head, and then turned to a buzzing. The power of it overwhelmed her, the buzzing in her ears became unbearable, and heat washed over her as she fell to the ground, aware of nothing but blackness.

* * *

When she became aware of her surroundings, it was to screams of pain, and the desperate, angry screams of curses as they flew above her. She realized that she was lying on her back on the cold, damp ground, and she turned her head in the direction of the screams to see what was happening.

To see Harry Potter standing, panting, over what appeared to be a pile of rags. As she watched, he collapsed to his knees, his hands coming up to his face, his body wracked with sobs as he cried.

"H... Harry," Ginny's voice came out in a hoarse croak, her vocal cords felt raw. "Harry!"

He jerked, turning to her.

"Ginny?" He scrambled to her on his knees, touching her face almost desperately, his eyes searching hers wildly, "Dear Merlin, Ginny... you're alive!"

"Of course I am."

"I thought... the lightning... when... when it left me... you... I thought you were dead!"

"Take more than that to kill a Weasley," she said with a pained smiled. "You're okay?"

"I... yes... if you are.."

"I'm fine. Tom?"

"I..." Harry's already pale face went white.

"Harry?"

"I... I did it, Gin. I killed him. I ... when I saw you, lying there... I..." he whispered.

Ginny pulled him down to her, tears in her eyes. Harry should never have had to do this.

"Ssshhh," she touched his face lightly. "Shh, it's going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine, Harry."

"Harry! Harry! Ginny!" voices called out of the darkness.

"Ron..." Ginny called weakly as Harry sobbed against her. "Ron! Over here!"

"Merlin! Harry? Ginny?" Ron jogged up to them. "Ginny? Are you...?"

"I'm fine, Ron. Hermione...?"

"She's okay. The aurors are over there now. Merlin, what _happened_?"

"Ron..." Ginny's voice was weak. "Later... please... I think... I think we need a Healer."

Ron, suddenly realizing the situation, paled, and he began to yell for help. In minutes, they were surrounded by people, and Harry looked up to see a pale, weak, Remus Lupin leaning over him.

"Remus?"

"Harry, you're going to be okay."

"I thought you were dead," Harry whispered.

"No."

"But... Wormtail?"

"Definitely is," Remus said, with rather more relish than was really entirely appropriate.

"Damn," Harry muttered, lying back, his eyes closed.

"Damn?" Remus smiled. "Surely you're not feeling sympathy for the little rat?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "No, but I was rather looking forward to wringing his bloody neck myself."

"You've done enough neck-wringing for one day," Ginny said softly as the aurors levitated them in preparation to portkey to St Mungoes, their hands still clasped tightly.

"Remus?" Harry swallowed, feeling weakness wash over him. He knew he was about to pass out, he'd expended a lot of energy to destroy Tom Riddle, but he had to make sure...

"What, Harry?"

"I want to be with Ginny... please?"

"You're both being taken to St Mungoes, Harry."

"No," Harry shook his head. Remus didn't understand. "Same room."

"Harry..."

"Please, Remus. We're only safe when we're together," Harry whispered before finally losing consciousness.

* * *

There was brightness. Painful brightness drilling into his eyes even as he closed them tightly.

"Harry?"

The soft voice wasn't the one he wanted to hear. It wasn't Ginny's. It was pleasant, but it wasn't her. He wanted that voice to go away until it was her. He only wanted to hear her.

"Ginny..." he whispered. "Where is Ginny?"

"I'm right here, Harry," her voice, the voice that he had heard in his dreams for nearly two years, came from the other side, along with what sounded like a curtain being pulled away. He felt a hand take his. "I'm here."

Harry moved his head and, with effort, opened his eyes. Her blurred image was there.

"Glasses..."

He sighed as she moved, heard the sound of movement to his left, and then felt the glasses slide onto his face. Ginny came into focus. Her worried brown eyes were set in a face so pale her freckles stood out. As he watched, she tucked a lock of flame-colored hair behind her ear and leaned closer.

"You're okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said softly, leaning down and kissing him softly. "We're all fine."

"I... Remus?"

"Remus is doing well. He had a slight case of silver poisoning. Wormtail got him around the throat with that bloody hand of his. And a cutting curse hit him on the side, but the aurors fixed him up from that even before we left... there."

"But he's okay now?"

"Yes."

"Ron... Hermione?"

"Ron's fine, Harry. I'm fine," the first voice spoke again. Harry turned to see Hermione standing to his right. She was fully dressed, unlike Ginny who wore a thin robe over what appeared to be a hospital-issue gown. Hermione's eyes showed her worry.

"And... the other?" Harry's eyes searched her face.

"The...?" Hermione looked confused.

"I felt it when I was in your mind, Hermione," Harry said, his eyes not leaving hers. "I could only think of one explanation."

"Oh," Hermione swallowed, glanced uncomfortably at Ginny, then back to Harry and nodded, her cheeks pink. "Everything is fine."

Harry nodded weakly before turning back to Ginny. "Where is everyone...?"

At that moment, the door opened and Harry's startled eyes flew to it. His right arm jerked, as though going for his wand, and he was only stopped from jumping up by Ginny's hand on his arm and his own weakness.

Molly Weasley entered the room, her eyes wild.

"Harry! Ginny... oh..." she rushed forward and pulled her daughter into her arms, then, without releasing her, leaned down and pulled Harry to her, as well. There was a chuckle from the doorway.

When Molly let them move again, Harry looked over. Arthur, Remus, Tonks and Bill stood there, the twins crowding in at the back.

"Where is Ron?" He said worriedly. Hermione had assured him Ron was fine, but...

"Right here, Harry. If these bloody gits will get out of my way," Ron's voice came from behind. Fred and George moved aside to let their younger, yet taller, brother through. "Always last in bloody line..."

"You were too busy looking at that mediwitch..." Fred began before catching Ron's eye, and his meaningful look at Hermione. George chortled.

"Everyone... Neville? The others?"

"Everyone is _fine_, Harry," Hermione repeated. "Really. Neville took advantage of the fact that you were sleeping and popped up to visit his parents. I think... I think he needed to be with him. After that."

"Harry," Remus came to stand next to Hermione. "Are you...?"

"I'm fine. I just want to know what happened."

"Well, so do we," Remus said calmly. "By the time we found you, Voldemort was a pile of ashes. What happened? How did you manage to kill him, when we haven't found the last...?"

Remus trailed off, a haunted look entering his eyes. "Unless... he _is_ dead, isn't he?"

"Oh, he's dead," Harry said, his voice low. "It's over. At least, I hope it is."

"But how in bloody hell did you manage it if there's still one more...?" Ron began.

"There wasn't one more, Ron," Harry looked at his friend, squeezing Ginny's hand and pulling her next to him. She climbed up next to him on the bed, leaning on one elbow, and squeezed back. "We had the wrong locket. There were two more."

"What?" Remus looked startled. "After all that...?"

"The locket we thought was the horcrux, the one you and Dobby found in Grimmauld Place, wasn't it, either."

"Then, what?" Fred looked over them all, his voice oddly serious. "There are still two out there? He's not really gone?"

"Oh, he's gone," Ginny said softly, her eyes not leaving Harry's. "The locket... the locket was the one I was wearing. The one that we found in that wooden jewellery case."

"What?" Ron looked between them, amazed. "But..."

"It was, Ron. Someone, probably Sirius' brother, had transfigured it to hide it. Tom... Tom tried to make Harry think that it was actually _me_..."

Molly gasped, and Arthur put his arm around her, his face grey.

"But Harry knew," Ginny said softly.

"But I don't understand... you said you could feel them," Ron said. "You and Ginny have been joined at the... well... why couldn't you feel it?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "Maybe I would have, if it had been around anyone else's neck. Your sister can be rather distracting, Ron."

Ginny smiled at him. He almost felt like smiling himself. Almost.

"But that still leaves one," Remus said. "Is one enough to keep him alive?"

"No, Remus," Harry said, taking a deep breath. "There aren't any more. Not any longer."

"What? But Dumbledore said seven..."

"And there were. But it's gone now, as well."

"How?"

"Because..." Harry looked at Ginny. "Ginny destroyed it."

"Ginny?"

"It was different than the others," Harry said. "You remember that Dumbledore said that Voldemort couldn't stand it when I was happy?"

"Yes... but..."

"And you know that I've had a... connection... with him. For years. I could see what he could see? What Nagini could see?"

Remus' eyes clouded with understanding... with barely suppressed rage. "You mean...?"

"It was me. Or more accurately, something _in_ me. Voldemort must have left part of himself in me when he killed my mother. Or perhaps it was when he tried to kill me. Either way, it was me. A part of his soul was left in me that night, and I've carried it all this time."

"But..." Molly swallowed. "How?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Ginny destroyed it."

"We destroyed it, together, Harry."

"How?" George looked at them suspiciously.

"Love," Harry said. "I think. When I understood... when I was standing there, and Ginny was there... and Tom, it was just... suddenly, it was all very clear. I knew that I was the final one, and I knew that I couldn't destroy myself before I destroyed him. I... Ginny... well, I knew that she would have to do it. She would have to kill him after I destroyed myself."

Hermione sobbed. Ron wrapped her in his arms and she buried her face in his broad chest.

"I think, when Ginny accepted that, when she took that duty from me, willingly... I think it did something."

"No," Ginny denied. "It was the kiss."

"The...?" Bill looked oddly at her. She turned to look up at him, and her brother looked back with surprise. Ginny had never seemed so... content.

"When I knew, well, I wanted Harry to understand that I knew what he needed me to do. That I would do it. I could hardly say it, with Tom standing right there... so I kissed his scar. After that..."

"It was like a lightning bolt," Harry said softly. "I thought she was dead. She just collapsed. It was like something... well, that's when I turned on Voldemort and... did what I had to do."

"But I wasn't dead," she whispered. "It was just the power. There was so much power there. When it left through me, I think it knocked me out."

"When I realized..." Harry flushed and looked around the room, suddenly very conscious of the fact that he was sharing things he would never had dreamed of sharing before. Uncomfortable, he became silent.

"I think we understand, Harry," Arthur said softly, patting Harry's hand where it held his daughter's tightly. "Thank you. Thank you for doing it... for..."

Arthur Weasley's eyes filled with tears and he swallowed, turning away.

"I think we'd best be leaving Harry and Ginny to rest now," Molly said. "Come on, you lot, you can come back later to see how they are."

Molly herded the others out before her, Tonks pausing to lean down and kiss Harry's forehead. She'd said nothing yet, but her eyes were suspiciously shiny as they studied him. She looked at him intensely for a full thirty seconds before speaking.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"We'll be back later, Harry. Is there anything you need?" Remus asked.

"No," Harry looked up at Ginny. "I think I've got pretty much everything I need for now, Remus."

Remus smiled, then followed his wife from the room, leaving Ginny and Harry with Ron and Hermione.

"Well done, Harry," Ron said, nodding. "I wish... but, well... well done."

"I couldn't have done it without you, Ron... or you, Hermione."

They both looked at him strangely, Hermione's eyes still showed how worried she was.

"Hermione?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Go on, take him home. Make him happy."

Ron flushed, not understanding, but Hermione nodded, her cheeks pale as she turned to Ron. "Come on, Ron, we have to talk."

Ron suddenly looked very, very concerned. "Mione?"

"It's okay, Ron. But I need to tell you something."

Ron allowed her to lead him from the room, glancing back at Harry and Ginny as though he didn't want to leave.

When the door closed behind them, Ginny looked down at him. "What was that all about?"

"Hermione... well, there have been consequences."

"What?" Ginny looked at him, confused, until they heard a shout from beyond the closed door.

"You're _what_?" Ron's shout could probably be heard all over London.

Harry turned and buried his face in Ginny's hair, laughing. He couldn't help himself. He was happy.

* * *

_I've just had a reader threaten me with reporting if I don't up the rating on this fic. The fiction rating suggestion on ff dot net says that fiction rating "T" is, and I quote, "_Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes". _ I rather thought I was well within that, but apparently not. It was never my intention to offend anyone. Rating has now been upped – I apologise to those of you who have been reading and may not be able to access it now – I promise there are no more "questionable" scenes. __Okay, on to more pleasant topics -- so I've got readers in Aberdeen, Nova Scotia, Texas, New Brunswick, England, Ohio, Toronto, RhodeIsland, Hawaii, California, Illinois, Australia, Chicago, New York (State and City), Ontario, Tennessee, Delaware, Alaska, Louisiana, Alberta, New Jersey, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Virginia, British Columbia, Las Vegas, Germany, and India... _ _And, yes, the blonde in the cafe was my version of our illustrious goddess, JKR... just for fun!_ _CQ_

_**HarryGinnyluv4ever:** I've been to NS many times. I have a friend in Dartmouth and a friend in Truro. Peggy's Cove is one of the most beautiful places on earth, IMHO. AB is great – and don't think that just because this is where the oil comes from that gas is any cheaper – I'm glad I drive an econo-box!_

_**Jarno:** Could be. Or it could be that Harry knows something we don't._

_**YelloWitchGrl:** One more!_

_**Arianna of Bellezza:** But who said it was Ginny? LOL!_

_**BlueClover13: **I lived in T.O. For nine years. Rather different than here, that's for sure! I can live without the humidity, although living in Alberta this year and the amount of rain we've had, you'd think you were in Southern Ontario._

_**AlliBaby:** I like working references to JKR into my fics – sort of a tribute to someone I admire greatly._

_**NutsaboutRemus:** Now, would I do that?_

_**SiriuslyAmused:** Sorry about that. I want you to know that I considered emailing you this chapter last night. Briefly. LOL! _

_**VT: **I've been looking for a decent gumbo recipe... I don't suppose...?_

_**Renzo7:** THAT can't be the end... we haven't had the happy-happy after-the-fact stuff yet!_

_**Danny:** Canada? Exotic? LOL! Right, okay – personally, I think Colorado is probably way high on the "exotic" scale compared to Southern Alberta... but, hey, it's all perspective, right?_

_**Oomahey:** Of course I did – this IS me, after all!_

_**FreedomStar:** I try to put reference to her in my stories when I can... she's brilliant, and it's my little acknowledgement of the work she has done in bringing us this amazing world to play in._

_**LarnaMandrea:** Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know. I think I'm going to have to start posting only every second day, and take a little more time between on the editing..._

_**BeckiSoup:** I think everything happened too fast for anyone to keep anyone from going._

_**All my lovely reviewers, thank you, thank you, thank you:** Ilov3captainoats, Seall, Trixie7, Gerie, HarryPassionFan, Lacyl, ProfessorMoody, BrittSchrick, BeautyGirl, gryffindorgrl123, snuffles007, MarkMyWords, Allimba, Lea, whatdoIhavetodo, SpaceHog26, RyougaZell, harryginnyfan23, JainaSanri, Ilov3captainoats, Ronni, harry+ginnydestiny, Tnick, genuinescience, moodyboy66, LuthienGranger2004, meg, SabineStrohemMoss, Tomanak, KatietheGreat, dragonclawz54, WolfsScream, dweem angel, GiGiFanfic, LittleTom45, ameristrat, TDSM, Mike, BabyHuey, pcb, Caitlin, leleana, azntgr01, nandhp, TriaMarieVal, KaiserMonkey, HermioneJaneKoriand'rTarberllaRiewer, Ginny2026, L5894, charmingly-holly, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, AnimeGurlzRule, Gilmore, Meighan, captainalexobvious, imissdumbledore, OldCrow, rgluvr13, MarinePotterFan, J62442, Skateforever, IndiaInk, TnaSeeIN, CrystalShine, Sillysac, HarryFoureyes, SilverWeasley, Honorable, TwilightStar, griffindorgirl12, Kat, Alex, luvguurl, mosleyn001, LunaMoon224, mono.tonie, justawritier, ThrallofOrcus, ChineseCinderella, Draghknar, RainbowFish _


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Epilogue

"So, they've decided to treat it like an extra-long summer holiday. Like that's going to work!" Ron scoffed, obviously very upset.

"They're just..."

"Acting like this year didn't happen, is what they're doing. Starting up the school in September, expecting us to go back as seventh years," Hermione looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"This year _did_ happen," Ron put his arm around her, waiting as Ginny and Harry dressed behind their curtains. "And that plan isn't going to work. We've... all... gotten on with our lives."

"Ron... my NEWTs!" Hermione sobbed.

"I'm going to talk to McGonagall, Mione," Harry said, stepping out from behind the curtain surrounding his bed, fully dressed. Remus and Tonks had gone into muggle London and picked him up a few things to wear today after Tonks had gotten a look at what passed for his wardrobe, but he could see that a shopping trip would soon be high on his list of priorities.

Ginny came out from behind her curtain, her threadbare robes immediately drawing his attention. _For both of us_, he thought.

"Well, I don't care if I go back as a sixth year or a seventh," she said. "In all honesty, I don't particularly care if I go back at all."

Ron looked at his sister, startled. "Mum'll have kittens if you tell her that."

Ginny snorted. "Mum is going to be far too busy freaking over your little bombshell to be overly concerned about me, Ron."

Ron's face flushed and Hermione bit her lip.

"No, she's not," Ron said.

"Yes," Ginny replied, looking squarely at her brother. "She is. But Harry and I will be there with you when you tell them."

Ron looked down at Hermione, a soft look coming into his eyes.

"Well, in a month, it won't matter," he said.

"How so?" Harry asked, looking between the two of them, suspicious of the looks they were casting at each other. Ron looked determined, Hermione looked... concerned?

"We're getting married," Ron suddenly grinned, unable to help himself.

Harry's face broke into a smile, and he pulled Hermione into his arms for a hug, shaking Ron's hand as he did. "Congratulations!"

"Just a small ceremony," Hermione said. "Ginny... you'll... will you?"

Ginny's eyes lit as she hugged Hermione tightly. "Of course I will!"

"Harry?" Ron turned to his best friend of seven years.

"I've got your back, Ron," Harry confirmed. "You know that."

At that moment, the door opened and Remus came through, closing it quickly behind him before speaking. "Ready?"

"Ready," Ron nodded.

"For anything," Harry said softly.

With that, Harry took Ginny's hand and stepped out of the room after Remus, into the crowd of reporters.

_FINIS_

_

* * *

_

_What, you say? What is that? What about Snape? And Malfoy? What about Harry's first sight of Potter Manor? What about Molly's reaction to Ron and Hermione's news? What about... well, the rest of the story? Well, there wouldn't be much of a sequel if I told you everything here... right? Right. Expect it coming in a few weeks._

_To all of you, I can't thank you enough for reading. My question a couple of days ago, as to where you all were reading from, surprised me with it's range of answers. People are reading from pretty much every continent but Africa and Antarctica, from the looks of it. I'm honored, really!_

_Keep reading and sending in constructive criticism to those whose scribblings you read... reviews help writers better their writing skills. _

_I also wanted to mention that ALL of my stuff will also be posted over at wizardtales dot net. _

_Thanks again, folks, it's been a blast --_

_CQ_


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